Snow Dreams
by Nyhlus
Summary: It's competition weekend at the ski resort. Junior's competing on the halfpipe for the first time. If only he can impress Carrie and the other riders, while avoiding his dad. Noah is on vacation with Owen. Things get complicated after he meets Emma at the bar. MacArthur, a security guard, has a one night stand with Brody. Their stories intertwine over one crazy weekend.
1. Chapter 1

Snow Dreams

Chapter 1:

 **JUNIOR**

Junior hesitated before stepping into the ski resort's lobby, gripping his snowboard tightly. He finally arrived. His first real half-pipe competition would begin in the morning. All of his hard work had paid off. He was where he wanted to be, among those he wanted to be around. Nothing could ruin the moment; well, almost nothing.

"Don't hog the space Junior," Dwayne said. He pushed a cart carrying their two large bags into the lobby. Junior reluctantly followed behind him. The lobby had a raised ceiling. It was lit by a glass chandelier hanging in the middle of the room. Red carpet lead them from the door to the front desk. The sounds of the ski hill was distant, but even at night there was the faint sound of people heading down the mountain.

"This place is fancy," Dwayne commented. "I hope they don't charge too much, or else we'll have to sleep in the car!"

"Dad. We've been over this. You know how much they charge," Junior said to his father.

"Right. Come on, we need to check in." Dwayne pushed the cart right up to the front desk where a young woman sat leaning back filing her nails. "Hi-" Dwayne looked down at the name tag on her shirt. "Taylor. We'd like to check into our room."

"Uh huh." Taylor murmured, without giving them much attention. She stayed primarily focused on her nails.

"Yup. See Junior here's competing in the big snowboarding competition tomorrow. Apparently it's an all ages tournament. It's going to be men against boys. Well, boy. My boy."

"I'm fourteen dad! I'm not a kid anymore!" Junior protested.

"Sure you are sonny." Dwayne chuckled to himself. He reached out to pat him on the head, but Junior swatted away his hand. Dwayne shrugged and turned back to Taylor. "And not just anyone can compete. No Siree Bob, you have to qualify to compete. Which is exactly what Junior here did. Heard he's the youngest one in the whole competition. I'm very proud."

"That's nice." Taylor responded rolling her eyes. "Can I get your reservation name please?"

"Oh, yeah. Of course. Kalinski."

Taylor put down the nail filer and typed the name into the computer. "I don't see anything under that name."

"Wha-what?" Dwayne spoke in surprise. "Are you sure you typed it in correctly? K-A-L-,"

Junior stepped away from his father. He had no interest in being associated with Dwayne. It was worse enough that Dwayne had to drive him. Junior insisted that he could take the bus, but his father refused to consider it. This sort of an event was a good father-son bonding opportunity, or at least that was what Dwayne spoke about for hours in the car. Junior had drowned him out with headphones, so he was not exactly clear what Dwayne said. Junior was looking forward to hanging out with his fellow riders and avoiding his father at all cost.

It was then someone tapped his shoulder. He nearly jumped in surprise. He turned around, fearing it to be Dwayne, only to discover a beautiful teenage girl with long blonde hair staring back at him. She had a wide inviting smile, filling her face with warmth. He was awestruck by the sight.

"Hey. Did I hear your dad say you're competing tomorrow?"

"Oh, ah, yeah." Junior said.

"That's so cool! Is this your first major competition?" She asked.

"Um, yeah." Junior said without really knowing what to say.

"Wow, and yet you're still so young. That's really impressive. I wish I was good enough at your age."

Regaining a bit of his composure, Junior pumped out his chest and fixed his posture. "Thanks." He hoped desperately that his voice did not feel forced.

"I'm Carrie," she said, "I'm also competing. In the girls portion of course." It was like there was a spark in her eye, that for Junior, was the prettiest thing he'd ever seen. Desperately, he did not want the conversation to end. "I've been looking forward to this competition since forever. This'll be the first time my best friend and I will get to compete together. I'm so excited!"

"You're not worried about going up against them?" Junior asked.

Carrie chuckled to herself. "For some reason, I don't see that happening. Well I should get going. Good luck and I'll see you out there tomorrow."

"Yeah, you too." Junior called out as Carrie walked down a hallway and out of the lobby. Junior watched her leave the whole time. She was amazing. He so desperately wanted to impress her, or people like her. More than winning, that was his true dream. Eventually he walked back over to his father who was still arguing with Taylor.

"Now listen, I'm telling you, there must be something wrong with your computers. Maybe you need to upgrade them or-" Dwayne was rambling.

"Dad!" Junior interrupted. He turned to Taylor, "Check under the name Robinson."

Taylor entered the name. "Yes. We have one room reserved."

"Oh, right." Dwayne said. "I forgot I put the room down under your mother's name. Hehe. Whoops." Taylor glared angrily at him as she handed him the keys. "Thanks! You're doing a great job here." Dwayne began pushing the cart towards the elevators. "Come on Junior, let's go get settled."

 **NOAH**

Noah stared at the mountain through the restaurant's expansive window. The trails were illuminated at night by towering lamps. The snow glowed in the dark under their light. Shadows sped down the trails on skis and snowboards. Large snowflakes passed by the window gingerly, giving almost a winter wonderland feel. He leaned back in his chair, trying to soak in the serenity of the moment.

"What are you looking at buddy?" Noah's companion asked him.

"Nothing. Just admiring the view."

Owen, who sat opposite of him, gave Noah a concerned look, before turning back to his food. "It's nice right? I told you this was a good idea for a vacation." He cut a strip off his steak. "This steak is incredible. I'd have sex with it if I could."

"For thirty bucks, they better let you," Noah spoke, taking a sip of his glass of red wine. "Is there anything else to do tonight? We've already went skiing. Seems like we're trapped in here."

"More skiing of course!" Owen said. "We only did it during the day. Skiing at night's a whole different experience. Everything's so pretty."

"There's no way I'm going back out there. My body cannot take anymore abuse, at least for today. You should go without me."

"Come on buddy. The whole idea of doing a joint vacation was to do things together."

"When I agreed to go on vacation with you, I imagined you were going to suggest we head to New Orleans and eat so much Cajun food we'd be sick for life. Not this."

"That does sound fun," Owen admitted. "We'll have to consider that for next time." Owen took a bite of the bread that came complementarily with the meal. "But, we're here because you said you'd never spent a full weekend skiing, drinking, and partying at a ski resort before. This is the best. You go speeding down a hill with sticks attached to your feet, come back in, warm up by the fire, chow down on awesome food, drink till you black out, party with strangers. What's not to love?"

"At least half of the things you mentioned, particularly the speeding down a hill part. I might also add crashing perilously into ice disguised as snow and hurting everywhere."

"That's what's so great about being me and why I love skiing." Owen patted his large belly. "Extra padding."

"I also don't get why you keep insisting on us going partying. In case you've forgotten, it is just the two of us. We don't know anyone here."

"You just have to talk to people. I heard there's a snowboarding competition happening tomorrow. I'm sure they'll be throwing a party somewhere."

"So you want to party with a bunch of teenage snowboarders?"

"If that's where the action's at, then yes. Come on, it'd be fun."

"No it wouldn't. That doesn't sound fun at all."

"Noah, we agreed to do yearly vacations to start living more. Real experiences. This is what skiing is all about. Who knows who you will meet or what might happen? Life's possibility is at your fingertips, and all you need to do is reach out and grab it."

"Yeah, one second you're going fine down a trail, next second you're crashing face first into a tree."

"That sure puts a positive spin on it." Owen replied sarcastically. "Look, tonight's the first night. I'm getting all my skiing in because tomorrow night I'm getting all my drinking in. So, I'm going to hit the mountain with or without you. Just remember Noah: real experiences." Owen finished the last bite of his steak and stood up. "Real experiences." He repeated as he backed away.

"Okay I get it. Go have fun putting your life in the hands of two thin pieces of plywood." Noah waved Owen away who promptly left the dining area. Noah took his time finishing his glass of wine. He watched as scores of people descended down the mountain. He could see on the far side where they were still working on setting up the competition for the next day.

After he was finished, he wandered around the resort hoping to find something else to do. He passed by a sauna, but it looked to be filled with people just off the slopes. The gym was busy too, but he had no interest in that anyway. He finally stumbled upon the bar. He had nothing better to do, and he surely could use another drink, so he headed in. The bar was on the third floor of the resort. It had a British pub décor. There were about a dozen tables, most of them were placed next to windows, which reached from the floor to the ceiling, peering down at the mountain. The whole resort seemed designed specifically to maximize the view.

The place was mostly empty. Two older gentlemen were loudly talking at one of the far tables and a single young woman sat at the bar. Noah walked over and sat down at a bar stool, two over from the other patron. The bartender was a big buff dude who looked like he could crush Noah with his biceps. "Gin and Tonic." Noah ordered.

The bartender silently nodded and began preparing Noah's drink. As he waited for his drink, he looked over at the other person down the bar from him. She was pretty, slouched over her drink: a scotch on the rocks. Sensing she was being stared at, she glanced at him. On impulse, Noah turned to look straight ahead. The bartender placed his drink in front of him. "Thanks." Noah grabbed the drink and awkwardly sipped it.

"You're not one of those snowboarders." The girl commented. Noah turned back to look at her. She had rotated her body and was now facing him.

"No, I'm not."

"I could tell." She declared. Her speech was a bit slurred. She had clearly been drinking for a while. Noah generally did not like to engage with strangers at the bar. He found the interactions too awkward. But, in that moment, Owen's stupid voice came back to him, urging him to reach out for real experiences.

"What tipped you off?" He asked.

She took a second to respond, looking him up and down. "You're not built for it."

"Ah. My complete lack of muscle. I knew it would screw up my plan to pass off as a suave snowboarder. I had everything else perfect."

She smiled. "You're funny." There was a straight arrow-ness to her gaze, peering at him. Her tired eyes were inviting. He wondered if she wanted him to continue speaking. Desperately, he tried to think of something clever to respond, but he was interrupted before he could.

"Emma!" a voice called out from the bar's entrance. Noah turned to see a teenage girl who resembled the young woman sitting at the bar. The teenager walked over to Emma. "There you are! I've been looking all over. Come on, you said we'd grab dinner after I finished practicing." At that moment, she noticed that Emma and Noah were turned towards each other. "Oh sorry! Did I interrupt something?"

Emma shook her head. "No Kitty. You're not interrupting anything. Let's go." Emma stepped off her stool and stumbled a bit. Her arm knocked her glass over, spilling it on the bar.

"Are you drunk? It's not even nine o'clock yet." Kitty said.

Emma brought her finger up to Kitty's mouth. "Shh, let's go." Emma walked to the exit without looking back.

Kitty followed behind her but turned and said to Noah and the bartender "Bye! Sorry about my sister." She raced to catch up with Emma.

Noah sat in silence for a moment, before turning back to the bartender. "That was something," he remarked.

The bartender shrugged as he began to wipe down the spilled drink. "That wasn't so bad. You should count yourself lucky. We get quite the characters here. Take Gary and Pete for example," he pointed towards the two older men talking loudly by the window. "Old Olympic skiers. They're here every night arguing about who was better in their prime. If you hang around for longer, you'll see it get even more heated." He finished lapping up the spill and tossed the towel behind the bar. "This girl was nothing. Plus, she was cute and she looked interested in you. Can't get better than that."

"True," Noah agreed. He downed the remainder of his drink. "I'll have another."

 **MACARTHUR**

"Almost done," Sanders remarked. "Just got to lock up the equipment and we're finished. Thank God we didn't get the graveyard shift."

She pulled out a large key ring and began shuffling through it looking for the proper key. She stood with MacArthur outside a shed near the back of the resort's main building. They wore matching black coats with the word 'SECURITY' written across the back shoulders in big white letters.

MacArthur held up her flashlight and pointed it at the keyring to help Sanders see it better. "What a boring shift. No fights, no drunk antics, no parties, nothing to break up." MacArthur said with a disappointed sigh.

"And that's a bad thing?" Sanders asked, already knowing how MacArthur would respond. Finally finding the proper key, she placed it into the keyhole and locked the door. "There, all done."

"Finally!" MacArthur called out. "You want to go grab a couple brewskies at the bar? I need something to burn off some steam. Maybe pick up."

"You? Pick up? I'd like to see that happen," Sanders said dismissively.

"You've just never seem the MacArthur charm in action. Men line up for a piece of this action. I could show you a thing or two about it. Maybe we could both get laid."

"As unlikely as that proposition sounds, I'll have to pass tonight. I'm tired. I want to finish the book I'm reading. You'll have to get laid for the both of us," she said, scoffing at the possibility.

"Will do. See you tomorrow partner."

They shook hands and parted ways. MacArthur headed to the resort chalet. The last remaining boarders and skiers were finishing up their runs. She passed through them to the bar. There was a good number of people inside. Most of the tables were occupied and a crowd stood near the bar.

MacArthur walked up to the bar with a bit of swagger, leaned against it and said to the bartender "Ryan. The usual," she ordered, before turning to survey the pub. It was a younger crowd, most in their early to mid 20s, clearly there for the snowboarding competition, with the exception of two older gentlemen arguing loudly. She licked her lips, eyeing a couple attractive targets. When she turned back around, Ryan stood still with his arms crossed. "What?"

"What usual? You don't have one."

"Just get me a beer." MacArthur ordered back. "And make sure it's not a sissy brand." Ryan let out an audible sigh. He reached down, pulled a bottle out of the fridge, popped it open and placed it in front of her. MacArthur grabbed it and took a couple swigs. "That's what I am talking about." She leaned her back against the bar and looked out. "There's some fine pieces of ass here tonight. Think I might try to grab me some."

Noah, who was sitting next to her at the bar, choked on his drink.

"You sure talk big don't you." Ryan remarked. He picked up an empty glass and began to wipe it with a towel.

"Is that a challenge?" MacArthur said back.

Ryan shook his head. "Nope. Last thing I want is to be associated with anything you do."

"Challenge accepted. What do you think? Those surfer dudes over in the corner look pretty tasty. I could pick myself up one of them."

"Hate to break it to you, but those guys are way out of your league." Ryan said.

MacArthur chuckled. "You've clearly never seen the MacArthur charm in action. All those meatheads need is a little confidence." She downed her beer. "Grab me another." Ryan reluctantly got her another beer. "Watch and learn." She strutted from the bar towards the group.

As she left, Ryan turned to Noah. "See?"

"How you boys doing tonight?" MacArthur greeted the group of snowboarders. She slipped herself into the circle of people, trying to play it naturally. They wore typical surfer garb, dressed slightly warmer for the winter: long hair, beaded necklaces, and cargo shorts.

The group shared a glance, confused by her appearance. "We're good," one said hesitantly. He eyed her security jacket. "Anything wrong?"

MacArthur raised up her beer. "Nothing to worry about. I'm off duty. Looking for a little rest and relaxation. You boys competing in the competition tomorrow?"

"Che-yeah. Course. It's going to be sweet," another responded. He wore a cowboy hat with long blonde hair. His pink shirt was unbuttoned, exposing his sculpted chest. She'd give him a 7 out of 10. Points off for the hippy-like hair.

"Geoff's excited because he's going to win the whole thing. He's top seeded and everything."

"Come on Brody. You've got a good shot too," Geoff responded.

"Yeah Brody, Geoff's right," MacArthur said picking up on the names. Brody was more her style. She liked his flat cut and tribal tattoo. He'd get a solid 7.5 out of 10, which was pretty good for her. Numbers 8 to 10 were reserved solely for the different ages of Clint Eastwood; Dirty Harry, 1971, was the solid 10. "All it takes is one colossal screw up and BLAM! It's anyone's competition."

"But Geoff never makes mistakes. I'm always the one that's crashing out of these things." Brody said.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself." MacArthur spoke. "You've got to keep your head in the game if you want to be a serious competitor. My daddy always said that if you start doubting yourself, then you might as well quit right then and there."

"Your dad sounds like a wise dude." Geoff said. "I'm going to go grab another drink, be right back bros." He headed off towards the bar.

Brody finished his drink. "You're right. I should stop doubting myself. Thanks for the tip."

MacArthur moved in close right next to Brody. "You're welcome sweet cheeks. I have a couple more tips I could give you, if you're interested." She winked at him.

"Sweet," Brody said.

 _Afterword:_

 _We hope you've enjoyed our new story. This is our first story with the R_ _idonculous Race_ _cast. A lot of them have been really fun to write, there will be even more appearing in the next few chapters. We also just updated our other story 'Duncan and the Student Advocacy Club: Help is on the Way!' So be sure to check it out._

 _Please Leave a Review_

 _Till Next Time -Nyhlus and BJ_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

 **MACARTHUR**

MacArthur woke up with a terrible hangover. A sharp stabbing sensation jabbed the back of her head. She could barely remember what happened the night before. It was all fuzzy in her head; incomplete memories of drinking in the bar and heading to someone's room. She had no recollection of the bed she woke up in. Luckily, she did vaguely recall the person she shared it with. She had awoken first, which was ideal. This meant she could escape unnoticed. All she needed was to leave the room without making a sound. It would require all of her training to be a security guard. This was her moment. She was ready.

Quietly she lifted the covers and stepped onto the ground. She reached down and carefully grabbed her clothes that were scattered all around the floor. Moving as slowly as she could, she dressed herself. Once she had her clothes on, she picked up her work boots and tip toed towards the door. She made it without a sound, only for the doorknob to creak as she turned it.

"Babe?" A voice called out from the bed. MacArthur swore repeatedly in her head. Brody sat up in the bed. "You're heading out already? I guess I should get up as well."

"No!" MacArthur yelped instinctually. She bit down on her lip, wishing she'd been able to make a clean escape. "You should continue resting. Make sure you're ready for the competition."

"Good call." Brody slipped back between the sheets. "You going to come watch me today?"

MacArthur had no time for lies. It was not how she rolled. "No," she said clearly. She flung open the door and rushed out before he had a chance to respond. It may not have been the most mature reaction, but it got the job done. Hopefully, she would not see him again so it didn't matter anyway.

From Brodie's room, MacArthur made her way to the staff locker room. She put on her boots and tried to fix herself up so that she looked at least semi-presentable. She wished she had time to clean up in her room, and to at least have a shower, but the resort's owner Kelly was holding a staff meeting in the staff room that morning. MacArthur swore at her poor luck. She rubbed her eyes one final time, before heading out to it.

The staff room was a small cramped space with a dozen foldout chairs. They were arranged around a flimsy metal podium where Kelly was standing. Most of the chairs were occupied by the time MacArthur arrived. She slipped her way through bunch and took a seat next to Sanders.

"Okay everyone." Kelly began. "Today's the big snowboarding competition, so I want big smiles from everyone okay?" No one responded. Kelly grabbed a clipboard off the podium. "Alright. Let's go over today's assignments. Ski Instructors: we've got a big group from down south coming in who have never skied before. Josee and Jacques, do you think you can handle it?"

"Consider it done!" Josee responded.

"Great." Kelly looked down at the clipboard. "Taylor sweetie, you're working front desk okay? You did great last night."

"Whatever. I'll take whatever job as long as I get my credit cards back soon."

"Keep working hard and you will sweetie." Kelly glanced down at the clipboard once more. "MacArthur and Sanders, you two will be working security at the snowboarding competition."

"Oh god damn it." MacArthur cursed.

"What? Is there a problem?" Kelly asked.

"Why do we have to work the competition?"

"Because it is your job?" Kelly responded.

"Why do you not want to do it?" Sanders asked turning to her partner. "You love working these kinds of competitions. Big rowdy crowds are your favourite."

"It's going to be so awkward." MacArthur groaned.

"Please explain to me why working security detail for a bunch of snowboarders is going to be awkward?" Sanders continued to ask.

"Oh!" Ryan blurted out. He turned around in his chair to face MacArthur. "You actually did go to that snowboarder's room last night, didn't you? There I was doubting you could do it. Boy was I wrong."

"Is that why you look like a feral cat who spent all night rummaging through the trash?" Jacques joked.

MacArthur gritted her teeth. "Shut your trap French face."

"French face? What does that even mean?" Jacques questioned.

"Don't get me wrong MacArthur," Josee began. "I've never had a high opinion of you, but to drop so low as to sleep with one of those Neanderthals. This is too good."

"Hey, butt out of my business. I don't start judging you for being all French." MacArthur countered.

"Again with the French, I don't get it." Jacques said.

MacArthur turned to her partner Sanders who had a big smile on her face. "Oh no. You better not start too."

Sanders shook her head. "Don't worry, I'd never judge you. By the way, does this mystery snowboarder have a name?"

"Brody."

"Brody?" Ryan repeated. "You mean the one with the star tattoo on his arm?" Everyone in the room burst out laughing, including Sanders who nearly fell out of her chair.

Kelly tapped the top of podium. "Okay well, this has been quite the staff meeting. Regardless of any personal objections you two are still assigned to the competition and that's final. You are all dismissed."

 **NOAH**

"I can't believe you were able to convince me to come out skiing again." Noah said as he and Owen approached the ski lift.

"Don't worry about it buddy. You'll thank me in a few hours."

"Yeah when I'm covered head to toe in icepacks." Noah responded. They skied into a line leading up to the ski lift.

"So how was the bar last night?" Owen asked as they waited for their turn to go up.

"It was alright. There's some interesting characters here, that's for sure." Noah said. They approached the front of the line. That's when Noah realized one of his boots was not properly strapped into his skis. "Shit." Noah stepped to the side and knelt down to fix it.

"Let's go, let's go. Keep the line moving." The lift attendant shouted

"Just a second, just a second!" Noah said back still focused down at fixing his ski.

"Too late, next person step and go with the big dude." The attendant called out at the line. Once his boot was firmly strapped in Noah jumped back up only to realize Owen had already gone up on the ski lift. "Let's go, let's go. You and her, catch this one!" The attendant said. Noah moved up into position as an empty lift chair came around. He was scooped up and sent up the mountain.

Noah was surprised how much adrenaline that caused him. He looked forward and saw Owen wave back to him on the chair in front of him. It was only then, after he was already well above the ground, that Noah turned to see who he was sharing the lift with.

It was Emma.

She stared at him with a look of dread. "Oh, ah, hey." Noah said to her. Emma immediately put her head in her hands. "I'm guessing you remember me then."

Emma lifted her face from her hands. "I'm so sorry about yesterday. I had a bit too many drinks. I hope I did not totally embarrass myself."

"No no, you did not embarrass yourself, don't worry about it. You only said two things to me, that I'm not a snowboarder and that I'm funny. One of which is definitely true." Noah said trying to be funny to dispense some of the tension.

It seemed to work if even just a little as Emma looked to relax a little. "That's a relief. I needed to unload then."

An awkward silence filled the air. "So your sister is competing?"

Emma eyed him weird. "Yeah, how'd you guess that?"

"She mentioned she had been practicing when she came to get you yesterday." Noah explained kicking himself for having been so specific.

"Oh, right. I'm guessing you're not here because of the competition?"

"No. I'm here for the weekend with my friend. He's showing me the joys of downhill skiing."

"That sounds nice actually." Emma said.

"Yeah, but he's not really doing a particularly good job at showing me. There's something about hurtling down a mountain at breakneck speeds where one mistake can send you straight to a snowy grave that has yet to click with me. And once you've finally made it to the wonderful safety of flat land you just climb right back up." Noah described.

"I see." Emma said flatly. Noah was hoping for something a little bit more. He had said too much there. Trying to sell why skiing sucks to a random stranger on a ski lift was not the best idea. He began to question why he'd tried to start up a conversation in the first place. The answer was clear, she was super pretty and said he was funny. Although he began to wonder how much of that had been the booze talking. What followed was another awkward silence, one that Noah could not take.

"Why'd you need to unload?" Noah asked, needing to say something.

"Huh?"

"You mentioned you needed to unload last night. Just curious why?" Noah immediately started to regret asking that question no matter how curious he was. Might as well have asked her what her trials and tribulations were.

"Stress." She replied.

"From what?"

"I'm a law student so I'm missing valuable study time right now." Emma responded.

"Then why didn't you just study?"

"That's not the only reason. I'm often the one to take my sister to these sorts of events, and even though she doesn't seem to care about the results, for some crazy reason I do. It's like all the stress building up to these competitions are lifted off her shoulders and placed on mine. Just don't tell her that." Emma said.

"Don't worry." Noah shook his hand. "Your secret is safe with me." The lift finally began to reach the top and even though Noah thought they had finished the conversation in a nice place, he was glad for it to be over.

They got to the top, both jumped off the chair at the right time and slid over to the top of the mountain. There waiting for them was Owen and Kitty with big smiles on their faces. "Noah!" Owen exclaimed as they approached. "This is Kitty. We were put on the chair lift together. She's competing in the contest today. I told her we'd go cheer her on!" Owen threw his hands in the air.

Kitty turned to Emma. "Isn't it great? I'm going to have my own cheering section with my big sister in the middle!"

"Oh yeah, great." Emma said sarcastically.

Owen went right up to Noah and gave him a nudge. "Plus, Kitty mentioned you and her sister already met last night at the bar. Am I great or what?" Noah shook his head and began to ski away. Owen had to hurry up and follow him. "Am I great or what? I didn't hear a response!"

 **JUNIOR**

"Dad!" Junior called out. Junior and Dwayne were standing in the chalet before the drink and snack counter. "Come on, I don't want to be late. I'm supposed to check in with the judges an hour before the competition starts."

"You go on ahead son. I'm still trying to decide what to eat for breakfast. Do you see how much they are charging for a muffin? It's highway robbery." Dwayne said still surveying his choices.

"Fine." Junior left. He headed out the front of the chalet. There, he grabbed his snowboard from one of the racks and headed towards the competition area.

A large halfpipe had been carved out of the side of the mountain. Spectators had already begun gathering at the bottom to get the best view. There were scores of people all bustling around making sure the competition area was properly set up. Junior kept looking around trying to find where he was supposed to go, but the mass of people was confusing. There did not seem to be any signs. He started to get worried he'd miss the check in time.

In a slight panic, he started to make his way back towards Dwayne, feeling desperate. It was then he passed by two men speaking.

"Yeah bro. I was thinking, me and Spud were landing 1080s all last night. Why not go for a 1260 man? It's just one more rotation. How hard could it be?" one of the men said. He wore a heavy metal t-shirt, long blonde hair, and a red bandana.

"That'd be sweet man! If you landed that you'd win the contest for sure," the other one said. He wore a cowboy hat and carried a snowboard under his arm. "See you at the top of the half pipe man."

"Later Geoff."

The two of them shared a quick fist bump. Geoff turned around suddenly, accidently hitting his snowboard against Junior. "Oh. Sorry little dude."

Junior, who was a bit surprised, tried to compose himself quickly. "No problem. You're competing right? Do you know where we need to sign in?"

"Oh dude, head to the orange tent on the far side over there."

Junior let out a large sigh of relief. "Thank you so much."

"Hey, don't worry about it little dude. You're competing?" He asked as if just what Junior's question implied.

"Yeah."

"Wow, bro that's awesome. You're so young. I didn't compete in something like this till I was 18. Righteous. I'm Geoff by the way."

"Junior."

"See on the top." Geoff said in parting, heading back to the chalet.

Junior headed over to the tent. There were two volunteers with a sign in sheet. Once he was properly registered, he took a deep breath. Now all he had to do was focus on the competition and hopefully not falling on his face. He looked up at a big clock at the bottom of the half pipe. He still had quite a bit of time to kill. He could go find his dad, but that was the last thing he wanted to do.

Instead he headed over to a park bench not far from the tent. There he watched the other competitors sign in. He started to feel intimidated seeing how they all looked to be late teens or in their twenties. While he knew it was not going to be easy, he hoped to be accepted among them. That was his real goal. Two other competitors caught his eye. They looked to be the closest in age to him. One had a stocky build, the other was more lean. Once they had finished signing in, they noticed Junior sitting on the park bench. The lean one gave the other a smack on the chest, pointed at Junior and walked over to him.

"Hey man." The stocky one said.

"Hey."

"I'm Lorenzo, and this is my stepbrother Chet." The lean one said.

"I'm Junior."

Chet sat down next to Junior. "Glad to see there's some fresh meat at this competition. How old are you?"

"fourteen."

"We're both sixteen. Since we haven't seen you around, I'm guessing this is your first competition. You nervous?" Lorenzo asked.

"Yeah, a little."

"Just a little? If I were you I'd be super nervous, first competition, first chance to impress the other riders." Chet said.

Lorenzo nodded his head. "Of course we don't have anything to be nervous about. We've been to so many of these we're practically experts. Oh, do you know about the party?"

"Party? No." Junior said.

"You don't know about the party tonight? Oh man everyone's going to be there. The after parties are half the reason people attend these competitions. I remember going to the party after our first competition, met so many rad people."

"We got to meet some hot chicks too. I'm just glad they thought we were cool enough to tell us where to go." Lorenzo said.

"Where's the party?" Junior asked. He needed to know. It was going to be his chance to meet the other boarders, and hopefully Carrie would be there.

"Oh man look at the time, we should get ready." Chet said looking up at the clock.

"Yeah, got to prepare for the competition." Lorenzo agreed as the two got up and started to walk away.

Junior checked the clock, there was still plenty of time before the competition began. He did not get why they had to leave. They could have at least mentioned when the party was happening.

 _Afterword:_

 _Hope you enjoyed this second chapter. Slowly we're starting to meet other characters that are from the show._

 _Please leave a review._

 _Till Next Time -Nyhlus and BJ._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

 **MACARTHUR**

MacArthur and Sanders stood near the top of the half pipe as the competition was about to begin. They wore their matching security jackets, with a snowmobile parked behind them. Snowboarders were congregating near the start area. "There better be like three drunken brawls amongst the spectators to make this assignment worth it." MacArthur spoke with disdain.

Sanders rolled her eyes. "It's like two in the afternoon MacArthur, I highly doubt people are drunk enough to start random brawls, or at least I hope not."

"Listen, if you spot a snowboarder who is lean, tanned, short brown hair and probably with another snowboarder with blonde hair and a cowboy hat, I need you to give me a signal. That's Brody and the last thing I want to do is run into him." MacArthur said.

"What kind of a signal?"

MacArthur scratched her chin. "Something inconspicuous, like a bird call."

 _"Cheep!_ _Cheep_!" Sanders called out, trying to imitate a bird's chirp.

MacArthur turned to Sanders. "Hey that's pretty good. Yeah, like that."

"No I mean, _Cheep_! _Cheep_!" To which MacArthur just stared at her weirdly, not understanding. Sanders sighed and pointed ahead. "He's coming right this way."

MacArthur looked ahead to see Brody and Geoff walking straight towards them. Before she could react Brody waved at them. "MacArthur!" Unable to get away, MacArthur just buried her face in her hands.

"You must be Brody." Sanders said with a smile. She outreached her arm and they shook hands. "So glad to finally meet you."

"Ah, you've been talking about me babe? I'm so glad you came to watch!"

"I did not come to watch!" MacArthur called out as she lifted her head back up. "I'm working security. If you didn't notice I'm a security guard here."

"Oh, we totally noticed that." Geoff clarified.

Geoff's response made MacArthur visibly shake in frustration. "Good. We've been assigned with keeping the peace here, that's it. I'm not here to watch you compete."

"Well since you're here you can watch me now." Brody said excitedly.

MacArthur shook her head. "No can do."

"Why not? The half pipe's right there. You've got a great view from here."

"Sorry. Our job requires our complete focus at all times." MacArthur tried to explain as an excuse. "We can't look away or be distracted by the competition for even a second incase something happens. Isn't that right Sanders?"

"No, not really." Sanders responded, to which McArthur gave Sanders a death glare. "I mean, yeah, got to be focused, anything can happen at these kinds of events."

"Aw that's a bummer." Brody spoke sounding genuinely disappointed. "I'll just have to give it my best as if you were watching! I also wanted to thank you, I haven't forgotten what you said to me last night. My head is in the zone!"

"Come on dude, the comps about to begin. Hope to see you guys later!" Geoff put his arm around Brody's shoulder and guided him away back towards the start area.

Once they were far enough away MacArthur let out a large breath of relief. "Thank god that's over with. Next time give me some more warning."

"Sure, the last thing we want is for a perfectly nice guy who is totally into you to strike up a conversation and ask for a little support. That would be terrible." Sanders said sarcastically. MacArthur did not even bother responding. "What did you say to him last night to inspire him anyway?

"I don't know!" MacArthur threw her hands up in air in annoyance. "I don't remember. I just said whatever I felt could get me a slice of that fine set of buns."

Sanders stared at MacArthur for a second. "Never say that phrase ever again."

 **NOAH**

"I'm so excited! I've never seen people go down a halfpipe before!" Owen exclaimed. The three of them, Owen, Noah and Emma, stood packed together at the front of the crowd at the bottom of the half pipe. Noah and Emma were right up against the front metal barrier with Owen behind them. Owen waved a makeshift flag, made by tying his scarf to one of his ski poles. "Do you think she's going to see us?"

"It would be hard not to," Noah commented. His shoulder was pushed up against Emma. She stared straight up the mountain, barely acknowledging their presence. "So, uh, did you ever do any snowboarding competitions?" Noah asked, trying to break the awkwardness.

"Once or twice, but only local competitions, nothing like this." Emma said. "That was back in high school. I hated every second of it."

"Really? Why?"

"Because I was terrible. Fell on my face each time. Got last place once. It was something our parents made us do. They said it was good exercise, back when we used to visit our local ski hill all the time as a family. The problem was I had no talent for it. Not like Kitty. She won her very first competition and never looked back." Emma explained.

The announcer began talking over a speaker system but there was so much fuzz coming out of the speakers it was hard for Noah to make out what they were saying. "It's nice that you're able to come out and support your sister."

"I kinda have to. My parents are a lot busier now than they used to be. They aren't really able to come out to these things anymore. And they don't trust Kitty on her own so they are insistent that I take her and look after her."

"Seemed more like she was looking after you last night."

"That was an exception. She's the one that needs to be kept in control, usually." Emma leaned forward resting her arms on top of the barrier looking off in the distance. "If she does well at this tournament, it will really help her chances of making it to the National championships. I couldn't stop worrying all yesterday and needed to unwind."

"Fair enough," was the only response Noah thought to say.

The announcer came back on. Noah still could not tell what he was saying. Owen perked up, "I think the competition's starting!" The crowd started to get riled up, cheers began to erupt around Noah. He looked up at a big screen that now displayed a list of eight female names. He guessed they were the competitors and the order they'd be doing their runs. Kitty's name was listed seventh.

The first snowboarder entered into the halfpipe and began to do tricks off the sides. Noah could not really tell the difference between the different tricks, they all seemed to involve grabbing the board and spinning in the air. As each snowboarder completed their run and the next began their descent into the halfpipe, he really could not get over was how much air they were getting. They were getting such height off the edges that it gave him an uneasy feeling. He felt intimidated by just going down the mountain. These snowboarders were launching themselves up off a nearly vertical wall of snow multiple feet into the air.

After each run a score would appear next to a person's name on the screen. The names would change places as better scores replaced the ones on top. Noah had no idea about the basis for the scoring metric. He could not tell a good run from a bad run, besides when someone fell. And when someone fell, they fell hard. There were a couple wipeouts. Each one sent a shiver down Noah's spine. And yet, each time the snowboarder just picked themselves up and kept going down. It seemed superhuman to him.

Finally the sixth rider finished their run. "This is it," Owen spoke with anticipation. "Go Kitty!" He yelled out at the top of his lungs. Noah looked out at the top of the run where he could barely make out Kitty about to start. He gripped the barrier in front of him. All he could think about was hoping she did not fall.

Kitty pushed off and dropped into the long snow constructed halfpipe. Noah felt a strong pressure on his hand. He looked down to see Emma was squeezing his hand on the barrier. He saw her other hand was squeezing the barrier. When he looked up at her, he saw this intensity on her face. "Come on, Kitty. Come on." She whispered to herself. It looked like it pained her to watch but she could not turn away. He realized she was so caught up in moment she had no idea she was squeezing his hand and not the railing. He suddenly understood what she meant by all the built up anxiety she felt. It did not look like a comfortable state to be in.

When he turned back Kitty was nearly done her run. She flew up into the air and rotated with such speed he could not keep track how many rotations it was. She landed the trick cleanly and traveled up the other side for one final trick. She launched into the air, grabbed her board and flipped in the air. Noah felt Emma squeeze his hand so hard he squinted in pain. She did a full rotation before coming down. Her board hit the snow, she stumbled for a second, but kept her balance, landed it and came rushing into the bottom area.

"YES! Kitty!" Emma yelled in relieved jubilation finally letting go of Noah's hand, much to his relief. Kitty came to a stop, took off her boarding goggles and stared up at the screen. Everyone waited in agonizing anticipation until she got her score which vaulted her to first place. Emma let out a deafening squeal of happiness and began jumping up and down in place. Noah and Owen could not help but smile exchanging a glance.

Kitty rushed over to them. Emma outreached her arms and Kitty jumped into her embrace. "You did it! You did it!" Emma repeated. "You were incredible."

Once they separated, Owen pushed forward, forcing Noah to the side. "That was awesome! Especially that last trick! The one with the grab and the flip." Owen mimicked the trick with his body, spinning around.

"Yeah," Noah said, trying to contribute as well. "Congratulations."

Kitty had the largest smile on her face. "It's all thanks to my personal cheering section."

"We need to celebrate!" Owen exclaimed. "You girls have to join us for dinner tonight! What do you say?"

"Uh," Kitty paused. "Absolutely!"

A girl with blonde hair rushed behind Kitty and pulled her back to the competition area. "That was amazing Kitty!" the girl said. Kitty gave the group a quick wave, before following the girl to the other competitors.

"So, I guess that's a plan," Owen commented.

"Yeah..." Noah and Emma both said at the same time.

 **JUNIOR**

Junior could barely see the bottom of the hill from the top of the halfpipe. He sat on the snow with his board strapped to his feet, waiting for his turn. The men's competition started immediately following the girl's. He had watched silently as the riders descended. From the top, he could see Carrie celebrate with the girl who just won. Junior figured she must have been the best friend Carrie was speaking about before.

Around Junior, the other riders were preparing themselves. The man he spoke to earlier with the cowboy hat, Geoff, stood in a circle of guys. They laughed casually, seemingly without nerves about their runs. Junior was envious. He wished to be accepted amongst them, but they all seemed so familiar to each other. They probably knew each other for years. He was an outsider. He needed to prove himself.

A part of him wished he could see Dwayne. Not that Junior needed his father's support. Rather, he was worried Dwayne needed Junior's support. Without him, Dwayne might have gotten lost on the way to the half pipe. Which, he could admit would be difficult to do, considering it was so massive. Or, Dwayne could have forgotten the starting time. Hell, Dwayne could still be struggling to decide on his breakfast! Junior shook his head. He was being unreasonable. His nerves were getting to him. He needed to focus. His hands gripped his board tightly.

"This your first competition?" A young man asked. He had black hair with a neon green coat. He looked noticeably nervous. Junior did not want to admit this was his first experience. He did not want to look weak before his turn. Before he had a chance to reply, the man continued. "It's my first time. It's real intimidating, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Junior agreed.

"But, you know what? The way I see it, nerves help me. If I was not nervous, then I wouldn't really want to do well. You get me?"

"Yeah," Junior repeated.

"Right on. Glad you see that too. I thought I was crazy. I mean, look at those guys. They seem so cool. It's like this is a regular day to them." He pointed at the group of guys with Geoff. "It's freaking me out a bit. I'm Devin."

"Junior."

"It was nice talking with you Junior. I'll see you at the bottom."

"Alright."

Devin walked down a bit and began to pace around in circles. He rustled his hair every couple of seconds, clearly worried. Junior let out a sigh of relief. At least he did not look that bad. Chet and Lorenzo were not looking any better either. After signing in and learning the order, they were going first and second down the halfpipe. Junior watched anxiously as they had their runs. Both of them crashed early. It was later in the afternoon when the competition had finally began. The sun was already starting to set and the wind had picked up slightly. Junior worried the conditions affected their runs and hoped it did not affect his.

There was over twice as many guys in their competition than the girls. Junior's turn was slotted late in the order, well after more than half the riders had gone. He watched as more and more competitors made their runs. There were a bunch more crashes. Rock, the guy talking with Geoff earlier, whose name Junior learned from the screen, actually did try a 1260, like he'd said. Unfortunately, he barely began the final rotation by the time he landed, crashing big time and snapping his board in half. Brody, one of the guys who was always hanging around Geoff, also crashed. Devin was able to make a clean run. Junior felt happy for him but tried to remain focused. He wanted to avoid a similar fate as those who crashed out.

The rider right before Junior was Geoff. "Good luck little dude." Geoff said in parting before launching down into the halfpipe. Geoff killed it. Everyone else had looked shaky all day but he landed every trick with ease. He easily took first place. With so few riders left, Junior felt Geoff had won the competition for sure. It was intimidating, having to follow that up. He wished he was after someone who had crashed.

The time for thinking however had past. He was next to go. He lined himself up and waited for the official's signal. He took deep breaths. He felt a little weak in the knees but tried not to think about it. All he needed to do was turn his brain off. He knew his run completely. He just had to let his body and muscles guide him through it.

The official gave Junior the thumbs up and off he went. He dropped into the halfpipe. The snow in the halfpipe felt choppy from all the use. It did not affect him much thanks to being so short; he had a low center of balance. He launched off for his first trick, an Alley-Oop. A spin which rotates in the opposite direction of the air. He got a good amount of height off it. The wind threatened to throw him off his rotation but he was able to keep steady and landed the trick cleanly.

After he landed his trick he was in the zone. The next tricks just came and went naturally. He went for a Frontside 900 rotation, then a Backside 540. His speed was intense. For his final trick he went for a big Cab 1080. When he launched he hit a sweet spot on the halfpipe and went soaring into the air. It was way more than he anticipated. He flew up nearly twice as high as the halfpipe itself. The first two and a half rotations came naturally but he found himself needing to slow down the last half rotation so he did not over rotate and land sideways. There was a second of panic but he got his board under control and landed it solidly.

As he rode into the bottom area he heard numerous cheers. Junior felt good. Really good. First he needed to regain his breath. He stared up at the screen. He was placed eight. He was in the top ten! He threw his arms up in the air.

"Way to go Junior!" He heard his father call out from the crowd. It took a second for Junior to find him to the left behind one the barriers. Junior went straight over. "Holy cow! Eighth! That's great! That's so good!" Dwayne hollered in excitement but then paused. "That is good right?"

"Yeah dad, it is."

"Amazing! I'm so proud! And when you did that one spin thing and then the other spin where you went backwards, you know, the first thing you did, really impressive." Dwayne went on, Junior cringed every time he tried to explain a trick.

There was a tap on Junior's shoulder. He turned around to see Geoff standing there. "Dude! That was righteous! Your Cab 1080 was sick! That height was ridiculous. That's the highest anyone's gotten all day."

"Thanks." Junior said, trying to hide his massive grin. Getting eighth was cool, but getting complimented by Geoff was a whole different level.

"Is this your dad?" Geoff asked motioning at Dwayne. Junior's smile immediately disappeared.

"You got that right!" Dwayne said.

Geoff turned to face Dwayne. "Your son is totally rad."

"He sure is something. I taught him everything he knows."

"Oh you snowboard too dude?" Geoff asked.

"Well, no." Dwayne said. "But I was quite the badminton player back in my day." Junior immediately covered his face with his hands in embarrassment.

"Awesome! Well check you later little dude! Hope to see you at the party." Geoff said in parting.

"Wait! Where is th-" Junior stopped as Geoff had already left and began speaking with another crowd of snowboarders. Junior looked at them with longing wishing he was able to get himself to go over and join them but Geoff had already clearly said goodbye.

After watching them for a few seconds he realized Carrie was among them. She looked over and caught eyes with him. He froze. She just smiled, gave a thumbs up and mouthed the words 'Great job'. Junior tried to play it off cool with a head nod.

He needed to get to that party. At all costs.

 _Afterword:_

 _Thanks for reading. Hope you liked this chapter._

 _Please leave a review._

 _Till Next Time -Nyhlus and BJ._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

 **NOAH**

"Explain to me again why we're going to have dinner with these two?" Noah questioned. He and Owen were in their hotel room at the resort. They had changed out of their skiing gear, showered, and were getting prepped for dinner. Noah looked at himself in the mirror, trying to gage the proper shirt to wear. He had no idea whether to go casual or nice. Owen, on the other hand, was already dressed in a white t-shirt and cargo pants. He lounged casually on the bed, drinking one of the beers they brought at the start of the weekend.

"We're celebrating. Kitty just won a major snowboarding competition! If that's not a reason to celebrate, I don't know what is."

"Sure, but why are _we_ celebrating it?"

"We're her fans!" Owen called out, raising his hands into the air.

"You met her this morning."

"So? That doesn't mean we shouldn't help her make tonight memorable."

Noah turned to him. "You don't, like, have a thing for this girl?"

"What? Kitty? No! She's like a teenager. Who do you think I am Noah? Look, we've been over this. We're here to party. Any excuse is a good excuse to party. These two girls want to party, so we are going to party with them. It's simple. Plus, after we have dinner with these two, I'm sure they'll know where the action's at tonight."

Noah tossed the shirt he was holding away. He grabbed another from his bag, and brought it up over his chest. "It just seems unnecessary. We can have a good time just the two of us."

"I'm not doubting that. But, if we just wanted to light a joint and hang out, we could have stayed home." Owen smiled playfully. "I think you're scared, little buddy."

"Scared? Why would I be scared? What gave you that impression?"

"I don't know. How about the fact that you're looking for any excuse not to grab dinner with two attractive ladies. One of which hit on you last night. Are you afraid she's going to reject you? We're at a ski resort man! That's the whole point of these things. They're like a mini-Las Vegas, except colder and without gambling."

"Let's be clear, I would not call her interactions with me last night flirting. It was more like drunken rambling. Also, I'm much more afraid of making an ass out of myself than any of that. I feel like your attitude is not helping.

"My attitude's not helping? I'm helping as much as I can," Owen announced exasperatedly. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get you laid? It's like a full-time job trying to wingman for you. The fact that we're even at this point is because of me."

"What are you even talking about?" Noah said with a small bit of frustration. "Who asked you to help me like this? Haven't you stopped to consider whether I actually want your help?"

"You want my help whether you're willing to admit it or not. Come on Noah, this girl is totally into you! You think she randomly just started squeezing your hand during Kitty's run for no reason? Don't think I didn't see that."

Noah sighed, "What's in it for you then?"

"If this means getting you out of your shell just a little bit more it will be more than worth it. And even if everything turns out wrong at the very least we will be able to look back at this trip and say, 'hey remember when we went to that ski lodge, met the two sisters and you totally tried to hook up with one and failed miserably'. Rather than 'hey remember when we went to that ski lodge and did nothing'."

"One of those sounds infinitely better to me and I don't think it's the same one as you."

Owen walked over and put his arm around Noah. "Listen little buddy. We're just grabbing dinner with them. If you really have a terrible time you can just leave and head back to the room. I'm not going to stop you. Let's just try to have a good time okay? And if you get laid you can totally thank me."

Noah shook his head. "Fine. Whatever. She is pretty cute."

"That's what I'm talking about!" Owen said. He grabbed another beer from the cooler and tossed one towards Noah. "Now start drinking. You're going to need to loosen up a lot more, if you're going to have any chance."

 **MACARTHUR**

MacArthur and Sanders entered the staff locker room. "That shift lasted forever," MacArthur spoke, tossing her Security jacket onto a bench. "I'm not sure I could stand another minute of it."

"Yeah. It must have been so tough on you," Sanders said deadpan. "You only made us avoid the few hot guys on the mountain. It would have been an easy shift, if you let us talk to anyone."

"I couldn't let my guard down, even for a second. They might have snuck up on us. What I wouldn't have given for one fight to break up. Those snowboards really let me down across the board today." MacArthur untied her boots and switched them for her runners she stored in a locker.

Sanders shook her head. "We could have at least went to talk with Brody after he crashed. I mean, he looked fine. I'm sure he was happy about Mr. Cowboy hat, Geoff, winning. But, crashing out like that must have sucked. From the way he spoke to us, I'm sure he would have appreciated you speaking with him."

"Not my problem."

"You're pretty cold sometimes MacArthur."

The door to the locker room shot open. Josee and Jacques walked in together. Their bright neon skiing gear continued to look immaculate, despite the ending of their shift.

"I know Josee," Jacques continued their conversation from outside. "I just think, as ski instructors, we should teach them how break _before_ we tell them to go down the mountain." They moved in unison towards a locker.

"No Jacques, for the last time, the number one rule of the mountain is you either sink or swim. That's what they should learn first and the only way to learn that is by going down the mountain. It's not our fault if they crash. Some people sink."

"But we are instructors Josee! Our job is to stop them from crashing. I do not understand how you are not getting this. At least we should go over how to turn."

Josee let out a grunt and did not respond. She threw open her locker. Sanders and MacArthur watched them silently. Josee, noticing the two security guards, turned her head in their direction. "Well, if it isn't the rent-a-cops. How was chasing after your lover boy?"

"Back off, I'm not in the mood." MacArthur said bluntly. "Today's sucked enough I don't need you two making it any worse."

Josee gasped exagurretly. "All this over a boy? Jacques! I think our little human bulldog has fallen in love!"

Jacques clapped his hands together. "How wonderful! I never imagined this day would ever come, ever."

MacArthur slammed her locker closed. "Open your stupid French mouth again and I swear to god you'll need a piece of metal to open it back up again." MacArthur grabbed her stuff and stomped out of the locker room.

"That girl has some problems." Jacques commented. "And I still don't get the French thing."

"Don't look at me." Sanders said with a shrug, packing her stuff into her backpack. "Hey wait a minute, Jacques what are you doing in the girls locker room?"

 **JUNIOR**

Dwayne and Junior sat together at a table in the restaurant at the resort. "Eighth place. Guess I can't call you a boy anymore. You're a proven man amongst men."

"Great." Junior muttered poking at his food. He was just glad there did not seem to be any other snowboarders that he recognized in the restaurant.

"I liked that Geoff guy. I think he's got a good judge of character. Did you see he won? Now I didn't think his run was all that impressive, not as impressive as yours. But I'm not one of the judges. Otherwise I think you might have placed even higher."

"Uh-huh." Junior did not care for his father's musing at the moment. "Hey, dad? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure sonny, ask away."

"There's a party happening tonight with all the snowboarders in the competition. I was hoping I could go. It'd be a really good chance to really meet some of the other competitors."

Dwayne finished a bite of his food before answering. "No." He answered flatly.

"No? Why not?"

"There's no way you're going to an unsupervised gathering with those kinds of people. You're still a boy and most of them are adults."

"But I thought you just said I'm no longer a boy."

"I was talking figuratively." Dwayne finished another bite of his meal. "This food is so fancy."

"You're eating a hamburger dad."

Dwayne pointed at his hamburger. "Yeah but do you see the stuff they've put on this? I think this is artichoke on it. Who puts artichoke on a burger? Fancy people, that's who."

"What about the party?" Junior said trying to get his father back onto the topic at hand.

"I already said no. These people are snowboarders, they are degenerates who waste their time on ski hills all days."

"Dad! I'm a snowboarder!"

"Right. Sorry, forgot for a second. You're still young so you're fine. These adults, they don't have responsibilities, real responsibilities. They have no idea what it's like to slave away at a desk nine to five to provide for a family. They don't understand boundaries. It's all sex, rock and roll and drugs. They're not the kind of people I want you to be associated with. Remember I was a badminton player back in my youth. I've seen what people at these kinds of sporting events do: drinking, smoking dope, shooting up heroin."

"People shot up heroin at badminton tournaments?" Junior asked confused.

"Well no, badminton players are the apex of society, which is why I tried to get you to do that instead. There's no telling what these snowboarders might do."

"They are not going to be shooting up heroin dad. That's crazy. That's like the last drug anyone would do."

"Well, what drugs will they be doing if you're such an expert." Dwayne asked back. Junior rolled his eyes and did not respond. "That's what I thought."

"Geoff's going to be there."

"So? Geoff might be a good snowboarder and a good judge of character. But that does not mean he is a trustworthy individual. Plus I think he might have a few screws loose up top if you know what I mean."

"Dad!"

"You're not going and that's final! I'm not going to let you go to your party. It's going to be filled with reckless strangers who will be drinking, along with other things. Why would I let you go to an environment like that? You're fourteen. Way too young. Now finish eating and then we'll go back to our room." Dwayne said with finality.

Junior sat back in his chair. He looked up to the ceiling and tried to figure out what he was going to do now. Because there was no way his father was going to stop him from going to that party.

 _Afterword:_

 _Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you to everyone who has been reading this story. It has been a lot of fun writing these different characters._

 _Please leave a review._

 _Till Next Time -Nyhlus and BJ._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

 **NOAH**

Noah and Owen sat opposite Kitty and Emma. Their table was nestled under the window, providing a view of the mountain's expanse. The bright ski trails, lit up by towering lamps, were a reflective white. Skiiers passed by like shadows under the light, rhythmically carving down the slopes. Noah had decided on a simple white shirt with the buttons done up, along with a brown cardigan and slacks. Emma was across from him. She wore a red blazer and a black skirt. Noah was nervous in her gaze, so he stabbed at the salmon on his plate. An awkward silence filled the air.

"So," Kitty spoke, trying to break the silence, "how do you two know each other?"

"Oh, we've been friends for a while," Owen spoke, pausing from inhaling his second steak. "We go way back. We've been close since forever."

"Wow! That long?"

"No," Noah corrected. "Unless you count meeting a couple years ago in University as forever."

"It might as well be forever ago!" Owen gulped down some of his wine. "I can't even remember what my life was like before this little guy entered it. Our connection was instantaneous. It was like destiny. We saw the world the same way. We were finishing each other's sentences and everything."

"What? No." Noah added. "We don't finish each other's..."

"Meals!" Owen jumped in, he reached over, grabbed the dinner roll from Noah's plate and shoved it into his mouth. "See? We're practically the same person." Noah shook his head at Owen while Emma and Kitty shared a laugh over Owen's antics. Noah had to give it to his large friend, Owen was good at making people feel at ease.

Noah drank down his wine, before turning his attention back towards Emma and Kitty. "It was actually a while before we became friends. Owen's always been a bit of a party animal. The frat boys used to affectionately call him the Tank. It wasn't quite my scene. I preferred spending my time in the library."

"What made you became friends then?" Emma asked. She rested her chin on her hand, with slight interest.

"We became roommates."

"How'd that come about?"

"There was just no way I could resist him." Owen joked. "Have you seen his buns? They're like if God Herself got Michelangelo to personally sculpt them." Emma choked on the wine she was sipping from laughing and tried desperately not to spill it all over herself.

Once Emma was done wiping herself down with a cloth she and Kitty turned to Noah for the real reason. "We just happened to be the only guys we knew who were looking for a new place to stay. It was tough at the beginning. Owen was a bit of a distraction at first, but we kind of figured out how to play off each other's vibes." Noah explained.

"What Noah means is that I finally showed him how to have a good time," Owen said.

"And I made sure he didn't flunk out." Noah said. He started feeling self conscious about revealing more about their uninteresting past, worrying it might be boring, decided to change the subject. "So Kitty, you've competed in a lot of these kinds of competitions?"

Kitty nodded her head. "A lot! But this was the first one I ever won!"

"You've won plenty of competitions, just none at this caliber." Emma corrected.

"Yeah, that's what I meant." Kitty said.

"So Kitty, if you've been to plenty of these competitions, I'm guessing you know a lot of the other riders?" Owen inquired. Noah poured himself a new glass of wine, since he had a good feeling where Owen was steering the conversation and knew he was going to need it.

"Oh yeah, I know everyone. I'm really good friends with a bunch of them now. Carrie's like my bestest ever."

Owen leaned in, "there going to be something happening tonight? You know, in celebration of the event. Maybe a party or something?"

Kitty nodded her head. "I heard Spud and Rock have a keg. We're all meeting up at the top of the halfpipe."

"Ha!" Owen hollered way too loudly. He whacked Noah on the chest. "See? I told you the snowboarders would be where the action's at." Owen looked over at Kitty. "We're in."

"No we're not. You're in. I'm not." Noah interjected.

"Dude! Come on." Owen said. "We've been over this a hundred times."

"And I've said no every time." Noah found himself getting frustrated again. "Why are you not getting that?"

"Emma." Owen turned to her. "You're going to come won't you?"

"Huh?" Emma paused for a second, not expecting to be called upon. "No way. Those parties are Kitty's scene, not mine. Besides, I've got some studying to do."

"Come on Emma! That's just an excuse!" Kitty fired at her sister. "It's already the evening. There's no way you're going to be doing any work."

Emma shook her head. "I've got a lot of reading I need to catch up on. Reading I've put off to take you here. I can't get behind." Noah found himself letting out a sigh of relief. Had Emma agreed to go, he might have mistakenly forced himself to actually go too.

Owen crossed his arms, he turned to Noah, then to Emma, Kitty, and back to Noah. "Fine!" Owen conceded. "If you want to be lame and not come, I'm not going to stop you. I can't help you if you're not willing to help yourself." Owen said directed at Noah. "Kitty, you're in right?"

"Totally!"

"Well, then we're going to have blast. And leave these two to themselves."

 **MACARTHUR**

MacArthur entered her room, happy to be done for the day. She lived in the staff dorm for the employees who only lived in the community during the winter season. The compact room looked like a discount version of the hotel rooms. Her single bed was pressed against yellowing wallpaper. The small window, only about a foot across, had an unflattering view of a dumpster and the parking lot. In her kitchenette, stacks of empty pizza boxes covered every surface.

Exhausted, she shut the door behind her and collapsed on her bed. Since she started working here, she had not felt such relief to be done. She survived, but the lack of a shower, and the bustling of the snowboarding event had frayed her nerves. All of the muscles up her back had tensed up. She'd been in a defensive mood ever since getting the assignment. If she'd known that Brodie would haunt her all day, then she might have avoided him all together. His sexy ass be damned!

She needed to unwind. Something to lighten her load. A bath would work. A nice soothing bath. Then, after that, she would do the most relaxing thing she could imagine: marathon the Die Hard trilogy.

It was difficult to force herself up off the bed. All of her mental strength was needed just to stand. She went over to her suitcase which she had still been living out of and rummaged around until she found some bubble bath. She started to head over to bathroom when there was a knock at the door. MacArthur paused. Who could be knocking now? People rarely bothered her. She thought about ignoring it. But, her curiosity got the better of her. Who knows? Maybe it's him. She headed over and opened the door.

"Hey." Sanders said, she stood in the hallway in front of MacArthur's door. "What do you got there?"

MacArthur looked down at the bottle she was holding. "Bubble bath. I was about to take a bath."

"You take baths?" Sanders asked in surprise.

"Yeah, baths are great. Who doesn't like relaxing in hot water?" MacArthur replied.

"I dunno, I always imagined you as a brisk shower type."

"Sure, in the morning," MacArthur said. "Why are you here? Something up? Or did you just want to bitch about how I spend my time?"

"I was coming to get you. We're working."

"What do you mean we're working? We just finished our shift."

"Whoever was supposed to work the evening shift's called in sick. We agreed in the beginning of the season we'd take on any extra shifts we could so I've already said we'd cover it."

"You did what?" MacArthur called out in frustration. "Come on! You know I don't want to go back out there today. Why didn't you even consult me first?" MacArthur took a deep breath. "Brodie's still sticking around tonight so now I might run into him again!"

"Oh I know."

MacArthur eyed her partner. "You agreed to do this just to screw with me didn't you?"

"Absolutely." Sanders said with a big grin. "Now come on, we've got to start our shift soon."

 **JUNIOR**

Junior laid down in his bed pretending to be asleep. He discretely lifted his head from the covers and looked over at his father. It was completely dark in the room except for the television. His father sat in his bed watching it. Junior convinced Dwayne that he was so tired from the competition that he wanted to sleep as soon as they got back to his room. Instead, Junior was trying his hardest to think of a way to get to that party.

Which, he had to admit, was harder than he imagined. He was running out of ideas quick. He'd tried convincing his father on the way back to the hotel room but Dwayne did not budge. Now Junior was stuck in the hotel room without a clear way to get to that party. He only had one hope. His father was an early sleeper. If he would only fall asleep soon, then Junior would have his chance. If he did not make it there, he felt there was no way he would be accepted among them. He may be younger than them, but he had just finished in the top ten. He had their respect. This was his chance to show Carrie how cool he was and that he was not some loser kid. He wished he had been able to convince his father not to come. Then it would not have been a problem. This was always just like his dad, always distant, only to intervene at the worst possible moments.

The room got darker. The television had been turned off. Junior shifted the covers up so Dwayne could not see his face. He crossed his fingers and waited patiently. He heard his father adjust on his bed. Another few minutes passed. Finally Junior started to hear a faint sound. A sound that could only be one thing: his father's snoring.

Ever so carefully Junior moved at super slow mo speed as he slipped out of the far end of his bed. He was still wearing all his clothes, even his shoes. Once he was out of the covers he glanced up at his father to make sure he was asleep. Dwayne was laying on his back, eyes closed. Junior ducked down and went onto all fours. He slowly began to crawl across the floor towards to door trying to make as little noise as possible. He stuck to the sides of the bed to remain out of view. After reaching the edge of Dwayne's bed, he scurried over to the door. He slowly stood up, reached over, grabbed his coat and then carefully turned the doorknob. He pushed the door open delicately, resisting all urges to just gun it at this point. Once the door was open enough for him to slip through, he passed into the hallway. He closed the door behind him at the same speed until he heard the click of the door being fully shut.

Junior stood there for another few minutes to make sure Dwayne was not going to jump up after him. The only thing worse than getting caught now, would be if Dwayne made a scene out of it, which he felt his father was incapable of not doing. Convinced he had waited long enough Junior looked out into the hallway which was completely empty. Now began the other impossible task, trying to find out where the party actually taking place.

Without many options, Junior decided to roam the halls of chalet, hoping to run into someone he recognized from the competition. He tried to stick to the major halls at the bottom of the chalet where there was the most foot traffic. He figured it would not be in someone's room since there was simply too many snowboarders.

After walking around for a while without finding anyone, he headed up to the restaurant to see if anyone was still eating. Next he looked into the bar but there was just two old dude arguing with each other. He tried the sauna, the pool, even outside to see if anyone was putting away their board or if he could see anyone still on the slope. Nothing.

Starting to lose hope after his second time checking all the hallways he did not know what else to do. He even considered just heading back to his room. He made one final trip down to the lobby, but there was nobody. He was about to turn back when he saw in the distance a familiar cowboy hat. He sprinted down the hallway, "Geoff!"

Geoff turned around as Junior hit the brakes to not make it look like he had run up to him. "Little dude! What's up? You on your way to the party?"

"Oh, ah, yeah." Junior replied trying to play it cool.

"Nice dude! So am I." Geoff gave Junior a fist bump. "Come on, it's just over this way." Geoff pointed in front of him. "Wait a sec," He paused. "Your dad cool with you coming out with us?"

"What? Pfft. Yeah totally. He's super cool with it." Junior lied.

"Sweet! Well come on, let's go then."

 _Afterword:_

 _We hope you're enjoying this story as much as we are writing it. It is just so fun._

 _Please leave a review._

 _Till Next Time -Nyhlus and BJ._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

 **NOAH**

Noah and Emma walked to the elevator from the restaurant. Owen and Kitty had already set off to the party for the snowboarders. Owen was still annoyed at Noah. They'd shared a few more choice words, but thankfully Owen did not make a scene. He understood that since Emma was not coming out, there was little point in trying to force Noah to go. As he left, he grabbed Noah by the shoulder and whispered that he shouldn't waste the chance. But, it was already too late. Noah's night was done. Emma's night was done. There was nothing left but returning to their rooms.

Emma pressed the button when they arrived at the elevator. Noah waited beside her.

"Thanks for agreeing to cheer for my sister. I really do think it helped her," Emma said, breaking the silence.

Noah scratched the back of his head. "Not a problem. It was fun. Although, I think it's Owen who you should really be thanking for that."

"You came to cheer too. That counts. It's usually just me out there."

"Happy to help. Especially if it helped her win at all." The elevator arrived and they stepped on. Emma pressed the button for the third floor. Noah pressed the button for the fifth. An awkward silence filled the air as the doors closed.

Noah was relieved that this was all going to be done soon. This was supposed to be his vacation to relax, but he'd been anxious all day. The skiing itself terrified him, filling him with stress of nearly crashing and getting hurt. Then, Owen's constant pressure felt like a finger pressing into his back; Owen's insistence on partying and meeting new people annoyed him. It made whenever they were doing anything alone seem like they were failing. But, neither of those two things were nearly as bad as Emma. Every moment with her had filled him with anxiety since the chairlift ride. It was a tired and slow rollercoaster that he felt trapped on.

He liked Emma. He just did not prepare himself for something like this. He had no intention of hooking up this weekend. It made him feel like a coward. Owen was able to act so naturally around others, but it made Noah blood feel heavy and morose. When he would finally arrive in his hotel room, there would be sanctuary. He'd drink some beers and enjoy the time alone liked he intended. He enjoyed being around Emma, but this was enough. Besides, she had to work. She said so herself. It would be rude to intrude. This was for the best.

The elevator reached the third floor. "Well, it was nice meeting you Noah." Emma said in parting as the doors opened.

"Yeah, you too." Noah replied.

She smiled at him. She stood there for a couple seconds looking at him before finally turning and stepping out of the elevator. The doors closed and Noah lost sight of her.

What the fuck was wrong with him? Of course he wanted this. The anxiety of being around her was bad but the anxiety that he just saw her for the last time was unbearable. In that moment he realized two things. Firstly, he was an idiot. Second, as much as he hated to admit it, Owen was right. What did he have to lose? Nothing, and yet he still pushed away and hid. He could not live with himself if he did not at least try.

Noah slammed on the fourth floor button. When the doors opened he sprinted out of them. He ran to the staircase. He threw the door open and hurried down the set of stairs, turned the corner, and jumped down the next set of stairs. He burst through the door and onto the third floor hallway.

"Emma!" He cried out.

Emma paused. She stood in front of her door at the far end of the hallway, one hand on the door handle. She looked over to see Noah rush to her. "Noah?"

Noah took a second to catch his breath. "Would you like to grab a drink with me? At the bar?"

She smiled at him. "Sure. I'd love to."

 **JUNIOR**

Junior followed Geoff as they trekked up the mountain. They walked past the orange tent where Junior registered for the competition. They moved up the side of the half pipe until they got to the starting area. Once they reached it, Junior saw a crowd off to the side near a wooded area about twenty feet further up the mountain. There was about two dozen people standing around. Some were sitting on a park bench that looked identical to the one he had sat on earlier. He figured someone must have dragged it all the way up.

As he got closer, he saw nearly everyone was holding plastic red cups. In the middle of the group rested a keg of beer. He recognized a few faces standing right next to it. One of them was Brody, who noticed their approach. He ran up to them, saying "Geoff! Dude you're finally here!"

"Yeah, sorry bro. Was on the phone with Bridge."

"No worries man. Dude one word: keg stand."

"Dude."

"Dude!"

"Dude!"

Geoff and Brody patted each other on the back, then walked over to the keg. Junior did not follow them. He did not seem to have been included in that little exchange. Plus, he had no idea how one did a keg stand, and the last thing he wanted was to look like he didn't know things. So, instead, he looked around to see if he recognized anyone else. He saw Chet and Lorenzo were standing nearby. They spotted Junior and walked over to him.

"Hey, if it isn't the newbie." Chet said as they approached.

"We were wondering if you were going to show up." Lorenzo said.

"Hey guys." Junior greeted them.

Chet gave Junior a punch on the arm. It looked like it was supposed to be a friendly punch, but it was hard enough that it actually hurt. "Saw you did pretty good out there. Don't start thinking just because you got in the top ten like you're hot shit or anything."

"Yeah, beginners luck." Lorenzo agreed.

"If me and Lorenzo didn't crash we'd gotten in the top ten for sure." Chet said. "Right?"

"I guess so." Junior said not really knowing how to reply.

"We just don't want it going to your head." Lorenzo said. "There's a hierarchy on these slopes and newbies always start at the bottom. Just cause you got in the top ten and made it out to the party in your first competition doesn't make you special."

Junior was feeling uneasy about their hostility. "I don't think I'm special."

"Good. Cause you're not."

Junior felt two hands rest on his shoulders. He nearly jumped from being startled. He looked over his shoulder to see Carrie directly behind him with her beautiful blonde hair. "Hey, leave him alone you two." She said directed at Chet and Lorenzo. She gave Junior's shoulders a squeeze with her hands. "Come on, I want you to meet some people."

"Okay." Junior agreed, too awestruck to really say anything more.

Carrie turned him around, let him go and started walking to the other side of the gathering. Junior followed close behind her. "Just ignore those two. They're just looking for someone to bully." Carrie told him. She turned around to face him. "I can't believe you came out tonight. It wasn't until my third competition that I mustered the courage to go to one of these."

"It wasn't a problem for me." Junior said, trying to play it off as cool as he could.

"Oh," Carrie patted two guys on the shoulders. They turned around. Junior recognized one of them as Rock the guy Geoff was talking to before the competition started, who also snapped his board in half during the competition. The other guy was wider, with long curly brown hair, he was holding two red cups full of beer. "This is Rock and Spud. They carried the keg all the way up here."

"Hey, I'm Junior." Junior greeted them. "Too bad about your board." He said to Rock.

"Wasn't that gnarly?" Rock called out in excitement. "I was so close! It was awesome!"

"Right on." Spud said with much less enthusiasm. "Hey you want a beer?" Spud asked extending one of the cups towards Junior.

"Um," Junior muttered, thinking fast. "Yeah, sure." Junior reached over and grabbed the beer from Spud. He'd never drunk beer besides the occasional sip from his dad's at special occasions.

"Cheers." Spud said. They clunked glasses and Junior took a big sip. The beer was nice and cold, but otherwise he tried his best to ignore the taste.

There was a commotion by the keg. Everyone turned to see Geoff now doing a handstand on top of the keg with Brody holding onto Geoff's legs trying to keep Geoff upright. Geoff was drinking directly from the hose on the keg. Everyone began to chant Geoff's name. It was an entertaining scene to watch as Brody tried desperately to keep Geoff up before finally losing his footing sending both Geoff and Brody onto the snow.

Everyone burst out into laughter. Geoff and Brody high fived on the ground. Junior leaned forward grabbing his sides he was laughing so hard. Carrie reached over and placed a hand on Junior's back to keep herself upright from laughing so much. The biggest smile grew on Junior's face. He could not help it. This was exactly what he had been hoping for. Here he was, among them. He was one of them, with Carrie right next to him.

He took a second to recompose himself and control his face, so that he would not look like a smiling idiot. He stood back up and saw Devin walk over to them. Devin handed Carrie one of the two beers he was carrying. Carrie wrapped her arm around Devin's shoulder and pushed herself right up against him. "Oh Junior! This is Devin. He's my bestest buddy I was talking to you about."

"Oh."

 **MACARTHUR**

MacArthur and Sanders patrolled around the outside of the chalet. They were doing one of the many rounds they had to make over the course of a shift. They wore their matching Security jackets. MacArthur was still frustrated that she had been forced into this. What pissed her off the most was that she usually loved working. Overtime was normally a blessing, but today it was a curse.

"So I've been dying to ask you something all day," Sanders began.

"Here we go." MacArthur muttered in annoyed anticipation.

"Why are you trying to avoid all interaction with Brody? He seems like a perfectly nice guy and yet you've been treating him like the plague."

"Sorry Sanders. My business is my business." MacArthur replied defensively.

"Come on MacArthur! We've been partners for a while now. If we are going to continue to work together you're going to have to give me something. You've already asked for my help, and if you are undoubtedly going to ask for more, I'm going to need to understand what exactly is going on. I can't read your mind."

"Fine!" MacArthur gave in. "Look, to me he was a conquest, nothing more."

"A conquest?"

"Yeah, a challenge. I wanted to prove to Ryan I could pick up anyone and I enjoy sex as much as the next gal. I picked Brody because he was hot and seemed receptive. I don't know who he is as an actual person or anything."

"Well if you keep pushing him away how do you expect him to show you who he actually is?" Sanders asked.

"I don't want to know. I don't care who he is right now and I don't want him to care about me right now. Just because we slept together he's thinking about me romantically and that is the last thing I want to deal with."

They turned a corner and began walking through the parking lot. "Look MacArthur, I'm not judging or anything, I respect you and I respect your decisions I'm just curious. Why do you not want deal with romance right now? This guy is a hunk and super into you. You've said before to me you'd like to find the right guy and settle down eventually. If you gave him a chance maybe he could be what you're looking for."

"He could be but that doesn't change the fact that I'm not what I want him to be looking for." MacArthur countered.

"You're going to have to explain that."

"Look at us. We're Security guards. I don't want to be a security guard. I'm only doing this because this is the only job I can get right now and I need to save up money. I want to go to the police academy and become a cop! And I want my future mate to see me as a cop, not some lowly security guard."

"Being a security guard does not define you as a person." Sanders said. "And Brody thinks you're cool."

"But I don't think I'm cool and that's the problem. What I want is to be defined as a policewoman." MacArthur explained. "This is not who I want to be or to be seen as, just some lowly rent-a-cop."

"You're being way too hard on yourself. And besides, that's on you, it has nothing to do with him. Listen, if we run into Brody again I want you actually try to get to know the guy. You can't change your situation right now, you can't suddenly become a cop. So enjoy yourself. Who knows, there might be more to Brody than being a hunky snowboarder." Sanders finished speaking as a static voice started to talk on Sanders' walkie-talkie. "One sec," Sanders said to MacArthur as she grabbed the walkie-talkie and turned away, "This is Sanders over-"

MacArthur continued walking trying to think about her situation. Sanders was right that MacArthur might have been a bit too harsh on Brodie. The guy did seem to have a good amount of determination having endured her rejections and still pursued her. He either had grit or no brains, she was not sure which one.

"Good news MacArthur." Sanders called out, catching up with her partner. "Just got word of a party up by the halfpipe that needs to be broken up."

MacArthur let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god. I could really let off some steam by smashing a couple heads together. Let's roll."

 _Afterword:_

 _Things are really starting to kick off. Thank you so much for reading. We hope you've been enjoying this story as much as we've enjoyed writing it._

 _Please leave a review._

 _Till Next Time –Nyhlus and BJ._


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

 **JUNIOR**

"You two know each other?" Junior asked out of surprise. He never imagined that Devin was the best friend Carrie had referred to earlier. He thought she was talking about one of the female riders. He stood in complete shock, the serenity of the scene broken around him. Desperately, he tried to keep his cool.

Carrie laughed at the question. She affectionately patted her hand on Devin's chest. "We've been buddies since, like, forever. We learned how to snowboard together."

Devin nodded along. "Carrie's the one who showed me how to go off a jump the first time. It was super cool. I wouldn't be here without her."

"Oh, Devin, you're too nice," Carrie giggled at his words. Her red face from the cold turned slightly redder.

This was a disaster, Junior thought. His whole plan was ruined. How could this be? It must be a joke, a cruel joke being played on him. He started to regret coming to the party. Dwayne was going to kill him. And for what? This? Shit.

"Carrie!" A voice called towards them. They turned to see Kitty bouncing up the hill, waving her arm in the air. Behind her, Owen struggled to climb. He heaved his voice, resembling a mountain man trying to conquer Everest.

"Kitty!" Carrie greeted, raising her voice, taking a step away from Devin. Junior considered leaving them. No one would notice. But, instead his legs felt heavy and unwilling to move. He took another sip of his beer, his teeth clenched from the taste.

"Who's your friend Kit?" Devin asked.

"This is Owen," Kitty introduced him. "He's on vacation with his friend. They cheered for me during the competition."

"That's nice," Carrie said.

Owen took a second to catch his breath. "What's with you snowboarders? Couldn't have you party in a hotel room or something?" His chest rose and fell, with a guttural pull. "God. I need a beer." He turned to Junior. "Hey kid, you going to finish that?" Before Junior had a chance to reply, Owen grabbed the beer from Junior's hand, chugged it down, crushed the red cup in his hand and tossed it in the snow. "Ah, that's better. There's more where that come from, right?"

Devin nodded. He pointed at the keg in the middle of the group.

"Great," Owen added. "I'll be back." He headed in its direction, pushing past people.

"He's kind of a character," Carrie commented.

"You don't know the half of it. His friend totally has the hots for my sister too."

"Aw," Carrie inflected. "Couldn't convince her to come out?"

"No. She said she needed to do work." Kitty lowered her voice. "I think she just wanted some alone time with that guy." Carrie let out a laugh, playfully nudging Kitty. Junior's heart sank as he noticed how physical Carrie acted with everyone around her. What he had interpreted as personal affection turned out to be her regular form of interaction.

"Who's this?" Kitty asked, pointing towards Junior.

"Junior. It was his first competition," Carrie informed her.

"Hi," Kitty greeted him. "Must be intimidating. I remember how tough it was at my first competition."

Junior was about to respond to her, but Devin jumped in. "You don't have to worry about him Kit. This kid got eighth. I barely beat him." Junior was surprised by the flattery. He did not expect Devin to have noticed how he placed.

"Impressive," Kitty acknowledged. "But, just because he did well doesn't mean he wasn't nervous."

"Actually," Junior spoke up for himself. "It wasn't so bad." He wanted to impress Carrie, and he saw this as an opportunity to get a leg up on Devin. "I was able to keep it under control. More than this guy." He pointed at Devin.

"You were nervous?" Carrie asked Devin.

"Oh yeah, I was a complete wreck." Devin admitted.

Carrie grabbed his arm and squeezed it. "Aw, that's adorable."

Junior bit his lip. That did not work how he intended.

"He's right, though," Devin continued, motioning towards Junior. "He had nerves of steel. Cool and calm. Nothing fazed him. Wish I was like that when I was his age."

Junior started to wish Devin would stop being so nice to him. It would make the whole rival thing much easier.

"I'm back!" Owen announced. In his arms, he balanced four beers. Rejoining them, he carefully grabbed one and handed it to Kitty. "Here you go." Next he gave one to Junior. "Sorry about grabbing yours earlier buddy." This left him with two in his hands.

"Who's the other one for?" Devin asked.

Owen looked at both beers in his hand. "What do you mean? Both of these are for me." He brought them over his head, chugged both down simultaneously. Kitty and Devin started to cheer him on as he got close to finishing. Once he was done, he tossed them both on the ground like before. "The Tank has been unleashed!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Fuck yeah!" Devin said. "That was so cool."

Owen placed his hand on Devin's shoulder. "You ain't seen nothing yet kid. But, first," He turned towards Rock and Spud, who were speaking with each other not far away. "Hey! Dudes!"

Rock and Spud walked over to join them. "What's up man?" Rock asked.

"You two look like you're cool. You cool?" Owen asked, with explicit implication.

Rock smiled knowingly. "You know it man. Look at this." He pointed at Spud, who pulled out a joint from a pocket in his coat. He put it to his lips, pulled out a lighter and lit the tip. He took a couple puffs before passing it over to Rock. Rock took a long drag, exhaled and past it over to Carrie.

Without any hesitation Carrie took a puff from the joint. She then offered it to Devin right next to her but he shook his head. "No thanks."

"You sure?" Carrie asked.

"Yeah, I'm good." Devin spoke with some hesitation in his voice.

Carrie shrugged and offered it to Junior who stood on the other side of Devin. Junior had never smoked pot before. It was not that he had actively avoided it, more just he had never been offered. In most circumstances he probably would have said no, but considering Devin had just declined, there was no way he was going to. This was a golden opportunity for him to seem cool. Junior grabbed the joint and took a large puff. He then began to cough heavily. Everyone laughed. His plan to seem cool backfired immediately.

"Come on, pass it on, can't be that bad." Owen said, he nearly snatched the joint out of Junior's hand. He then took a couple puffs and proceeded to cough even harder than Junior. Everyone's laughter increased. Junior felt relieved, everyone's attention had turned to Owen, the crisis had been avoided. Junior in a moment of reflection felt that Owen must have done that intentionally. Like Owen had sensed his discomfort and deflected any shame onto himself. Junior was impressed. This Owen guy seemed to be very good at making people feel at ease.

Owen passed it back to Spud. "Alright boys and girls. The night's still young. The tank's ready for some action. Let's get stupid!"

The group cheered at the rallying call.

 **NOAH**

Noah sat across from Emma. They had no problem finding a table in the bar. It was mostly empty. The competitors were out at the party with Owen, leaving only a handful peppering the room. Down from them, the skiers had resumed their argument from the night before. Their arms flew up in the air, trying to emphasize points. Emma sat straight. Her head was tilted partially to the right, so she could watch the mountain through the window. Her fingers wrapped around her wine glass. Noah wondered whether she worried about Kitty. It must be tough looking after her at these weekends. He barely had any responsibilities in his life. It seemed so light in the face of her.

"How are you holding up? You don't mind skipping your readings?" Noah asked her.

She paused for a moment, before answering. "It's fine. Kitty was right. I probably wasn't going get any done. It's been a long day. Most likely I'd give up after a few pages and then would have had a bath or watch the television, something boring like that."

"It's definitely been a long day." Noah agreed. "Can't say I would have had much more of an exciting night."

Emma stared at him for a moment quizzically. Noah took a finger off his beer to fill the space. "And you had no interest in joining Owen at that party?"

Noah shook his head. "No way. As much as I love the guy, I can never keep up with him. He's always on a whole other level than I am. I can only allow him to drag me along for so much stuff before he completely tires me out."

"Even when you're on vacation with him? This seems like the perfect opportunity to unleash."

"You're not exactly unleashing either."

Emma smiled and took a sip of her wine. "But I'm not on vacation. I'm being a responsible chaperone for my crazy teenage sister."

"That's nothing. Try looking after a guy in his late twenties who after a few beers begins referring to himself in the third person as The Tank, and without fail will take off his shirt at some point in the night." Noah said with a chuckle. "But seriously without fail."

"You almost make him sound like a burden."

"No. If anyone is the burden it's me." Noah began, his eyes rolled back slightly to think, carefully selecting the words floating in his head. "I enjoy hanging out with the guy. It's just he's best in small doses. We've always had a kind of imbalanced relationship. Owen thrives on being social. He'd happiest chatting someone up or going along with some big plan. Ideally, we'd hang out for a night, grab some drinks, that sort of a thing. But we live such different lives now, opposite ends of the city, it's hard to make time for each other. This joint vacation idea seemed like the best option to actually spend some time together."

"And yet here you two are separated."

"And here we are separated." Noah repeated her words in resignation. He took a hit off his beer. "In my defense he wanted to climb partially up the mountain to drink with a bunch of teenagers in the cold."

"Fair enough. I don't blame you for not going out to that. I wouldn't have either." Emma said.

"Plus he and Kitty seem to get along."

Emma nodded. "Yeah." She paused for a second to glance out the window. "I shouldn't have to worry about him around her right? He's not like secretly a creep or anything?"

"Owen? Absolutely not. He is exactly as he is. He is incapable of hiding anything. When I first moved in with him it took all of three days before I saw his junk."

Emma covered her mouth and struggled not to spit out the wine she had just drank from laughing. Her face turned red. After a few second she was able to compose herself long enough to mutter the word "How?"

"He didn't own a towel. Apparently when he lived in the dorms, he only air dried himself. After I was truly scarred for life, I immediately went out and bought him one. That's not even the craziest thing he did that first week."

"I'm simultaneously super curious and afraid to ask."

"It was near the end of the week. Friday, if I remember correctly. First weekend as roommates. I came back from the bar late. Apparently, I was not the only one who had been drinking that night. I quietly tried to head to my bedroom when I tripped over something. That something turned out to be Owen who had drunkenly passed out in the middle of our hallway. He was also completely naked. After I had hit the floor, in a half sleep daze he grabbed me and pulled up close to him on the ground."

"That didn't happen."

"Oh I assure you it did. Took me twenty minutes to wiggle myself free."

"How long did you live together?"

"About three years."

"Three years!" Emma exclaimed. It was loud enough a couple others in the bar turned their heads. "Why?"

"Living with Owen was never dull. It allowed me to have some excitement in my life and I did not even need to go out and look for it. Which was enough for me." Noah downed the last bit of beer in his glass. "You want me to order us another round?"

Emma smiled. "Yeah, definitely."

Noah nodded his head and stepped off his chair and headed to the bar. Things were going surprisingly well. His Owen stories usually did not work because people needed to experience Owen to properly understand them. He was having a good time. A damn good time. His nerves were mostly gone. Though that might be helped with the fact that he'd been drinking since the afternoon. He could barely believe he was planning on missing this. Noah walked right up to the bar, where no one was sitting. Ryan stood behind the bar cleaning glasses. "Another round, man," Noah said.

Ryan nodded and began pouring Noah another beer from the tap. "So how's it going?" Ryan asked.

"Good man, real good."

"Told you she was into you." Ryan placed Noah's pint on the bar and began pouring another glass of wine.

"You don't have a matchmaking fee do you?" Noah joked.

"Nope, but if you wanted to show your gratitude with your tip, go right ahead."

Noah reached into his pocket and grabbed some money and placed it on the bar, enough for the drinks and a generous tip. "No change."

"You're the boss." Ryan finished pouring the wine and put the glass on the bar. Noah grabbed the two drinks. "Knock'em dead." Ryan said in parting. Noah nodded and headed back to Emma.

Emma lounged back in her chair, her shoulders forward. It was a more relaxed pose than her usual upright stance. The wine reddened her face, her ears in particular were a deeper rouge. She watched him return to the table, her chin rested on her hand.

"Here you go," Noah said, placing the drinks on the table and retaking his seat.

"Thanks." She touched the wine glass delicately at first, almost with a hint of hesitation, before taking another sip. "I have to admit, I'm a bit jealous with your stories. I have no crazy roommate tales. I went from living at home to living by myself for law school. I like it, don't get me wrong, but it must have been nice to have someone like Owen to spend so much time with."

Noah shrugged. "It had its moments. We also had our fights. His stubbornness got annoying at times. I'm sure the same could be said of me." He turned towards the mountain. He hoped Owen did not mind how he was acting on the vacation. They had such little time for themselves now, he was a bit self conscious about making the most of the time. And, yet, he also knew himself. He did not want to turn into someone else for Owen. Owen knew that. Noah shifted in his chair, letting out a deep breath, before smiling. "What about Kitty? If you lived at home for so long, you must have stories between each other. It's similar to roommates."

"Not really. We used to act like typical siblings, always getting on each other's nerves, pushing buttons and being awful."

"That's surprising. You two seem to get along so well."

"Our relationship improved greatly after we stopped sharing the same bathroom. Plus, now that I no longer live at home, when we do see each other I get to act like the cool older sister. The party she's at right now? Our parents would never let her do something like that. They sure never let me do something like that. Now I get to be the one who lets her do the things I wanted to be able to do. I like that."

"She's lucky to have you."

"I like to think so. Or, at least, I feel lucky to be able to be here doing this. I hope she enjoys it too."

"I feel lucky you get to do this as well, otherwise we wouldn't be here right now."

Emma smiled. "That's true. It's both our lucky day."

 **JUNIOR (again)**

"Dude," Rock began, "that Owen guy's intense. I've never seen a guy knock back so many beers in so little time."

Junior nodded his head. "Me too." Which was easy to say considering he had never seen anyone knock back beers before. "I'd suggest moving the keg near him but then I'd be afraid he'd just drink it all."

"Ha ha, yeah. Good one." Spud laughed, his monotone voice made it almost sound sarcastic but Junior had come to realize that was just how he talked.

Junior was accompanying Rock and Spud as they walked to the keg to resupply the beers for the group. He had been looking for a chance to get away from the others for a bit and regain his thoughts. The party had been going pretty well. He was having a good time, most of the other snowboarders were nice people. The problem was he was not any closer with Carrie than when he arrived. He thought about just forgetting about it and focus on having fun but it seemed impossible to get her out of his mind. He wasn't sure if it was the weed, or the beer, or what, he hadn't really tried the stuff to know why he was feeling the way he was. So, instead of staying with them, he instead followed along with the others, nodding his head when spoken to. Rock reached the keg and began filling up the red plastic cups they had brought. Junior watched closely to see how to use the hose on the keg, so he would not embarrass himself if he tried to use it in the future.

"Little dude!" Geoff called out as he and Brody approached them. Geoff and Junior fist bumped. Geoff turned his attention to Rock and Spud. "Totally gnarly you guys were able to get this keg up here. How'd you pull it off by the way?"

"We took the two pieces of my snapped board and placed them on the ground next to each other, then put the keg on top of them, then pushed it up. It was all Spud's idea." Rock explained with excitement.

"That is some grade A engineering bro!" Brody reached over and high fived Spud.

Spud nodded. "We were like rocket scientist dudes."

"How are you holding up, little dude?" Geoff asked Junior.

"I'm cool," Junior hesitated to say, trying to keep control of himself.

"Narly," Geoff said in response. "You picked a good night to join us. This is one of the more radical parties we've had in a while. I mean, we're on a mountain bro. How cool is that?"

"Uh, pretty cool?"

"Super ultra cool. You're lucky you have such a cool dad to let you come out here."

Junior's heart sank a little at the reference to his father. He didn't like to think about sneaking out like he did. He hoped his father was still asleep. A brief image popped into his head of Dwayne looking all over the hotel for him, unable to find him anywhere. There was no way Dwayne would know they are up here. Guilt started to build in him. Still, this was cool. It was a party. It was all he wanted. Right?

Rock nudged Junior snapping him back to reality. Rock handed him two full cups of beer. Rock and Spud were both now carrying two themselves. "Come on dude, let's get these back to the others." Junior just nodded and followed along. Geoff and Brody stayed by the keg. Junior needed to stop worrying. He had too many things going on in his head. He was stressing himself out. He needed to relax. This was fun. These people had really made him feel like he belonged. He was going to hand Carrie one of his beers, he'd make a joke and go from there. That was his plan. They walked through the crowd and reached back to where Carrie and the others were standing.

All three paused and stared as Owen had taken off his shirt, tied his coat around his waist, and was spinning his shirt over his head. "Beer!" He called out pointing at them. Owen walked right over and grabbed one of the cups out of Junior's hand. "Thanks man!" Owen then chugged half of it. Looked like Junior was just going to have to wing it. Again.

"Aren't you cold?" Devin asked Owen.

"Nope! That's what's so great about being me." Owen patted his large belly. "Extra padding."

Junior stepped over so that he was next to Carrie. He then leaned over to her. "Is this normal at parties like these?"

Carrie chuckled and shook her head. "People can go overboard, but this is a whole new level."

"Yeah, isn't it awesome?" Kitty asked chimming in.

Junior was relieved he had gotten a chuckle out of Carrie. Things were not that bad.

"Oh shit!" Rock called out. "We got someone coming!" He pointed towards two approaching lights descending down through the trees. Junior froze in place. The whole party paused. Murmuring rose quickly between the group. Junior began to feel his knees shake from fear. People started to toss their red cups on the ground.

"It's security!" Someone hollered.

"SCATTER!" Rock yelled.

Junior stood there for a second not knowing how to react. Immediately everyone started running in opposite directions. Spud grabbed Junior by the shoulder. "Come on dude." Spud spoke calmly as if nothing was happening. "Race you to the bottom."

Junior nodded and started hurrying down the mountain. He looked to his left to see Owen and Kitty running down together and then looked to his right to see Carrie and Devin running down together. He looked over his shoulder to see Spud right behind him. Junior's heart was pounding as he rushed through the snow. He looked back one last time to see the area where the party was happening was now completely deserted except for Geoff and Brody who strayed by the keg. He had no idea what they were doing.

Junior did not let up his speed for a second. The further he got down the mountain the further away everyone else except Spud were. He could not keep track of everyone, they all seemed to have different targets that they were running to. His breath was heavy and he could start feeling his legs aching after already being sore from the competition. But he also felt something else. It might have been the beer, or the weed, or anything else, but for some reason. He was still having fun. A smile grew on his face. He just got escaped security. How awesome was that?

 **MACARTHUR**

"Ha ha! Look at'em run!" MacArthur called out with satisfaction. Even on a bad day like today, nothing was going to stop her from enjoying watching people be scared of authority. She and Sanders walked through the trees. The plan had been to sneak up on the party, but it was too dark to see anything so they had to use their flashlights giving away their location. Still, it was satisfying just watching them run. She loved how the power made her feel. This was the kind of assignment that made her feel alive. She turned to Sanders who was smiling as well and nodded.

They continued to walk at a leisurely pace towards the space the crowd had just vacated. Red cups littered the ground. Footsteps dug into the otherwise pristine white snow. "Check it, we got two stragglers." Sanders spoke pointing at two figures standing near the keg. MacArthur pointed her flashlight at them to get a better look.

"Oh no."

"Dude! I told you. It's totally MacArthur!" Brody said to Geoff. "Hey Babe!" He called out to her.

MacArthur hesitated with her next step, but Sanders kept moving towards them unphased. "What are you two doing?" Sanders asked.

"Just having a few beers on the mountain." Brody explained.

"Oh come on, you know you can't do that." MacArthur countered, she brushed off her hesitation and walked right up to them next to Sanders.

"What? Really?" Geoff spoke innocently. He turned exaggeratedly to his left and then to his right. "Our bad. This totally won't happen again." Brody nodded his head beside Geoff. "How's it going by the way? You two girls having a good night?"

MacArthur shook her head. "No, no. Do not play dumb with me. You are not getting out of this that easy. Plus, did I see a kid running from this party?"

"Naw, must be your eyes playing tricks on you. It's tough to see in the dark." Geoff said.

"You don't say." Sanders responded dryly. She looked around at their surroundings. "Is that a keg? You guys brought a keg up here?" The two dudes just shrugged. "I'm actually impressed that must have been a bitch to carry this far up."

"It was awesome, we were doing keg stands off it and everything!" Brody said with glee.

MacArthur eyed the keg and then leaned over to Sanders. "Ha, you know at community college they used to call me the Keg Stand Queen?" She turned back to the two young men who stood there staring at her. She realized she had spoken too loud and placed her palm on her face.

"Babe! You totally got to do it."

"I'm not going to do that."

"Come on," Brody insisted.

"No. Are you two daft?" MacArthur called out in frustration. "Do you not appreciate what's going on? We're busting you guys for a party on the mountain."

"Oh we know what's going on." Geoff made clear. "We were just hoping we'd be able to convince you to hang out with us. We know you're security dudes and everything but what's the point in having rules if you don't break them."

"Are you sure you understand what being a security guard means?" MacArthur asked.

"It doesn't mean you can't have fun." Brody replied.

"He's right." Sanders said.

"Yeah, you tell him partn-, wait what?" MacArthur turned to her partner. "You can't be serious, you're actually agreeing with them? They've broken every rule in the book."

Sanders nodded her head. "These two are about the most harmless rule breakers we've ever come across. We already broke up the party. What else is there to do?"

"What, so you want us to join in and illegally drink up here in the freezing cold?" MacArthur shot back.

"Well," Brody chimed in, thinking out loud. "If the problem's partying up on the mountain, we could go back to Geoff's room. We've got a bunch of brews. There's no rules against that, right?"

"We're not going back to your room," MacArthur made clear.

"What about the bar?" Sanders suggested. MacArthur stared daggers at her partner. Sanders shrugged. "What? The shift's almost done. It's been a long day. I could use some beer."

"It's so late. They'll be closed soon," MacArthur tried to argue.

"Ryan will keep it open for us. What do you guys think?" Sanders asked, turning her attention back to Geoff and Brody.

"Bro. We're down for anything, so long as you two are involved," Brody said.

"Great."

"What about the mess up here Sanders? We can't just leave it like this," MacArthur tried to find an excuse.

"We're security, not janitors. They'll find someone in the morning to clean it up."

"I don't know," MacArthur sighed.

Sanders grabbed the front of MacArthur's jacket. "Come on MacArthur. Stop being so damn stubborn. Remember what I said earlier? Relax, let's try to enjoy ourselves. When's the next chance you're going to get to hang out with some hunky snowboarders? I know you, you're not this much of a stickler for the rules. You're just making excuses."

MacArthur clenched her fist. Protesting was getting her nowhere. She did not want anything to do with Brody, was the lie she had been telling herself all day. She knew it was her own self doubt that was pulling her back. She hated acknowledging any of her faults. Something nice had come along and she felt she did not deserve it so she pushed it away, just like she pushed everything away. If she did not care she would not get hurt. Sanders was right. She needed to embrace who she was and not reject it. Plus Brody had a sweet ass she could not deny forever.

"Fine." MacArthur finally acquiesced.

"Awesome!" Brody called out. He and Geoff high fived. Sanders raised her own hand in MacArthur's direction. MacArthur mouthed _I Hate You_ to Sanders, but she did not leave her hanging by high fiving her.

MacArthur then turned and stared at the keg. "But first, I'm totally doing a keg stand off that bitch."

"MacArthur! MacArthur!" Brody, Geoff, and Sanders chanted as the four walked over to the keg.

 _Afterword:_

 _Thanks for reading! We really hope you enjoyed this chapter. This was the first and will be the only chapter with four sections instead of three so hope you enjoyed even more Snow Dreams goodness than usual._

 _Please leave a review._

 _Till Next Time –Nyhlus and BJ_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

 **JUNIOR**

Junior rushed down the final stretch of the mountain. He glanced back up the mountain for second, where the party had been taking place only moments before. Turning his attention forward he eyed the chateau ahead of him and picked a corner next to a utility shed to head towards. His heart raced and his breaths were heavy. Running down the hill had already exhausted him. His legs were shooting with sharp pain, which was likely already dulled by the alcohol and weed. Still, he was in good spirits. There was no way anyone could have kept up with him. He reached the corner of the shed and flung himself to the other side. He turned around to look back up the mountain. The security was out of sight. He had escaped. He was safe, for now. There was no sign of anyone else from the party, besides Spud who had barely kept up behind him. Spud headed to the same spot, reaching the corner and leaning against the wall beside Junior.

"My heart is going crazy," Junior huffed as he grabbed his chest.

"Mine too dude." Spud agreed. His voice remained understated, unchanged by the run. He gave Junior a thumbs up. "That was pretty wicked. You were really running there."

Junior nodded. "I was worried we'd get caught."

Spud shrugged his shoulders. "I wasn't worried. They couldn't really have done much more than tell us to leave." Junior did not need to be convinced that Spud was not worried. He wondered if it was even possible for Spud to have a reaction to anything. He always seemed so calm. Spud patted Junior on the shoulder. "Still, it was pretty fun to run away right?"

"Oh yeah." Junior said. Regardless of what the security would have done, he was glad to be out of that situation. The knot in his stomach was slowly going away as he could feel the adrenaline leaving his body. "Hey, did you see where everyone else ran to?"

Spud scratched the side of his face. "Not really. A couple people came down this way. Carrie and Devon were running with us most of the way down."

"Really? Where'd they go?" Junior asked.

Spud shrugged his shoulders. "No idea dude. They were right behind you a second ago, and now they are gone." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He let out a relieved breath as he lit one. Offering one to Junior, he held out the pack. Junior shook his head.

"We should go find them," Junior suggested.

"You sure dude? It's pretty late."

"It's not that late," Junior countered.

Spud took another drag of his cigarette. "Don't burn yourself out dude. You don't have to do everything tonight. They'll be many more parties in your future. You have time."

Junior ignored his advice. He didn't want the night to end. The adrenaline was pumping through his veins. He needed to make the most of the night. This was his chance. He needed to make sure it went perfectly. He'd already placed in the competition, hung out at the party, ran from security. He was invincible. In-fucking-vincible. He headed out from the side of the shack and began to look around for Carrie. He wanted one last chance to impress her. He'd made no progress so far with her. This night would be incomplete if it ended that way.

It was dark around the outside of the chateau. The only lights on were over the entrances and the exits, marking doors. He shuffled through the snow around the side of the building, heading in the direction of the parking lot. As he was turning around a corner, he saw by an entrance two figures standing outside. They were silhouetted by a light. That must be them! He focused on them for a moment to make sure it was them. He could just make out the reflection of Carrie's blonde hair.

He lifted his hand to wave at them. He cleared his throat, ready to call out, when he felt a firm hand grab his shoulder. He turned around to see Spud. Spud shook his head and put a finger to his mouth, signally Junior not to say anything. Junior peered at him confused, wondering what Spud was trying to get at. He looked back at Carrie and Devin, only to recognize what Spud was meaning.

Carrie and Devin were not just standing next to each other. Devin's arms were wrapped around Carrie's waist. Their faces were impossibly close. Junior froze. His body suddenly felt impossibly heavy.

Devin pulled Carrie in closer. In the dark, under the light, they shared an overwhelming kiss.

No. Not like this. This was not how the night was supposed to end. This was not supposed to happen. Junior was invincible. He'd done the impossible all weekend. Now, he felt entirely powerless. All of the energy drained from his body. The adrenaline was gone. He leaned against the wall, relying on Spud's hand to keep him upright. "Fuck," he said under his breath. It seemed obvious now. There was no way Carrie would like him. They'd just met. He felt like such an idiot. His whole night was a waste. Everything was wrong.

Deflated, he walked back towards the shed. Spud kept up behind him. "You okay dude?" Spud asked, reading the situation quickly.

Junior kept his eyes on the ground. His father was right. He was just a stupid kid way over his head. "No," Junior replied. "I don't know what I'm doing here. I don't know why I thought I could be one of you guys."

"Dude," Spud spoke. He placed his hand reassuringly on Junior's shoulder. "Do you know what tonight has been like? Epic. You know why it's been epic? Because you were there. We all thought you were so cool for trying to be one of us. You made the rest of us want to be cool, so we tried to live up to you. But, you know, you were already one of us. You were one of us the first time you got on your board. You were one of us the second you came here. You don't need to drink, or smoke, or get with the girl. You just need to be you. Trust me, if you keep going like you're going, you're going to be the king of the mountain before you even realize. But, you don't need to rush it. You're a cool kid. We all know it, Carrie too. That's the person we all want to be friends with, including her."

Junior fought to keep his emotions in check. He could feel his eyes start to water, but, he also knew that Spud was right. The night was a success. He'd been trying so hard that he almost missed how great things had played out. It had been a good night. Everyone had been so nice to him. He'd been blessed, even if things had not worked out with Carrie, and maybe, he could live with that.

"Thanks Spud," he said, his voice cracking. "You're a good dude."

"You too buddy."

"I'm going to head back to my room."

"Good call. I'll check you later."

"You too."

With his head down, Junior gave a wave to Spud and headed back towards the hotel.

 **MACARTHUR**

MacArthur climbed up the stairs in the resort chalet towards the bar. Sanders, Geoff, and Brody followed closely behind her. The door to the bar was closed but MacArthur ignored it and walked in. Most of the chairs had been placed on top of the tables in anticipation of closing up. Ryan stood behind the bar wiping it down.

MacArthur walked up to the bar with a bit of swagger, leaned against it. "Ryan." she said, before spinning around to survey the pub. The bar was nearly empty. Only a single table was still occupied near the back. Noah and Emma sat together leaning in close to each other speaking quietly. MacArthur watched them for a second before she turned back around, Ryan stood still with his arms crossed.

"What do you want?" Ryan asked. "Last call was fifteen minutes ago. The bar's about to close."

"Screw that." MacArthur shrugged him off. "You finish when we say so. A round of beers and shots."

Ryan glared at her. He eyed the others as they join her at the bar. A smile formed on his face when he saw she was with Brody. Sanders, standing next to Brody mouthed _Please_ to Ryan. "Alright fine, not like I have anything better to do. One round coming up."

Brody and Geoff high fived. "You're the man bro!" Brody exclaimed.

Ryan nodded. He then looked off towards the back of the pub. "Hey! You two!"

Noah and Emma turned and looked over in their direction. "Yeah?" Noah replied. "You want us to head out?"

"Nope! We're keeping this going late. You two are in on the next round. On the house." Ryan began pouring pints of beer from the taps.

"You want some help dude?" Geoff offered.

Ryan shrugged. "We're technically closed, so go crazy."

Geoff held onto his cowboy hat and vaulted over the bar. He lined up a row of shot glasses, grabbed a bottle of vodka and started filling them. Once they were all full he passed them out to everyone at the bar including Ryan. "To the most epic of nights bros!" They all lifted their glasses up and then shot them back.

Emma walked up to the bar. Ryan grabbed two of the pints of beer and handed them to her. She nodded and turned to head back. "Hey! It's Kitty's sis!" Brody said noticing who she was.

"Oh, ah, hi." Emma greeted them. She flashed a smile before walking back towards Noah.

"Not much of a talker that one." MacArthur commented. She watched as Emma handed Noah one of the beers. They shared a laugh before clinking glasses and taking a sip. She frowned at them. "Stupid lovebirds," she said under her breath.

"You know, they only met each other yesterday," Ryan informed her.

"Oh babe! They're just like us," Brody observed. Brody tried to bring his arm around MacArthur's shoulders but she pushed him away.

"No, they're nothing like us." MacArthur leaned up against the bar. Her brow furrowed. "We don't even know the first thing about each other." Her tone was harsh, despite the fact that it was her fault they had not spoken. She knew that. Why was she trying to blame him for her own faults? MacArthur looked over at the far side of the bar where Geoff had started telling a story to Ryan. Sanders stood next to them, listening intently. MacArthur could not quite make out what Geoff was talking about. She heard him mention the name Bridgette a couple of times and the 'biggest wave he'd ever seen'.

Brody leaned on the bar right next to her. "We know a couple things. Like, you're totally rad. I'm a snowboarder. And, you're a security guard. Those are things."

MacArthur felt the frustration build up inside. "No they're not. Not really. Being a security guard doesn't have anything to do with me. I hate this job. I want to be a real police officer, not some lowly rent-a-cop."

Brody nodded at her. "See, now _that's_ something. I know how you feel too. I've always wanted to be a righteous snowboarder like Geoff. He's always so cool. When I practice, I feel like I can do it too. But, when I come to competitions like this, I always crash out. I haven't had a good result in the last two seasons. Maybe I'm just not good enough. Maybe snowboarding isn't for me. But like, who else am I?"

MacArthur paused momentarily. She had not expected that from him. It may not have actually been close to what she was feeling, but, still, he opened up to her. Showed some vulnerability. It made him feel a bit more human and, subsequently, more attractive. Not quite at a Clint Eastwood level, but closer. She needed to stop worrying and enjoy herself, enjoy him. Even if she hated it, Sanders was right. MacArthur gave Brody a hearty slap on the back. "You just got to get over those nerves. Like I said yesterday. It's all in your head. You're a good snowboarder. That trick you landed before you crashed, the one with the double spins or whatever, that looked really impressive."

Brody's eyes lit up. "You watched my run?"

"Of course I did. How could I turn away from those buns spinning in the air?"

"Babe! You're the best."

"Don't sell yourself short, you're pretty good yourself." MacArthur lifted up her pint and they clanked them together. MacArthur chugged back the remainder of her beer. "Ryan!" MacArthur hollered, the other three stopped their conversation and turned to her. "Let's keep the beer flowing!" They erupted into cheers.

 **NOAH**

The group had moved away from the bar. Ryan brought out a stereo from the bar's kitchen and put on some music. Pushing back some tables, they made a makeshift dance floor in the middle of the room. MacArthur and Brody were dancing together, while Ryan, Sanders, and Geoff were dancing in a triangle next to them.

Noah and Emma sat together on a table just off to the side, their chairs facing the dancers.

"Sure you don't want to join them?" Noah asked Emma.

Emma shook her head. "I've never been much of a dancer. I'd probably trip all over myself."

Noah nodded knowingly. "Same. I'm not much into it either. My best dance move is the awkward shuffle."

"Now you're tempting me. I wouldn't mind seeing that."

"Trust me," Noah said. "You're better off imagining it in your mind."

They shared a brief silence, not an awkward one, a comforting one where they knew that they did not need to speak to fill in the moment. Rather, it was better to appreciate and enjoy what was unfolding before them.

"I have to admit, I did not imagine our night playing out like this," Noah commented.

"Me neither. It's nice for something unexpected to happen once in a while."

"Yeah. The free booze is also a plus."

"Absolutely," Emma agreed. "I am a little worried about how much my head's going to hurt tomorrow morning."

Noah grabbed his beer off the table and took a sip. "I wouldn't worry about that. It's a problem for future Noah and future Emma to deal with."

"Ah, but future Emma's important to me. Future Emma has to drive home tomorrow."

"I'm sure future Emma won't mind. She'll appreciate the fun present Emma is enjoying."

Emma smiled. "True. I also think future Emma will be embarrassed about present Emma referring to herself in the third person."

"Like I said, that's a future Emma problem."

They raised their glasses for a cheer, clinking the glass together.

"Thanks for inviting me out Noah. I've had a good time," Emma said.

"Me too," Noah agreed. He watched her closely. She'd relaxed since the beginning of the night. Her shoulders were slouched. The constant worry on her face had largely disappeared. Instead, she looked content, like she was where she wanted to be. At least, Noah hoped she felt that way. "Do you mind if I ask for a favor for future Noah?"

"What?"

"Could you give me your number?"

Emma paused for a moment, contemplating the request. It was clear she had not really considered their relation past this night. She was caught up in the moment, just like Noah. Then, her smile returned, and she replied. "Sure. Give me a second and I'll write it down." She looked around the tables for a piece of paper or a pencil.

But, they were interrupted.

"NOAAHHHH!" Owen shouted. He banged his fists against the locked door of the bar. Through the door's window, they could see that he did not have his shirt on. Ryan, surprised by Owen's presence, was about to go confront him, but Noah jumped up and motioned that he would take care of it. He rushed over to the door, unlocked it, and let Owen inside.

"Owen. Shush. We're not supposed to be in here. You're going to wake up the whole place."

Owen slumped forward, basically falling atop Noah. Noah struggled to catch his friend and keep Owen upright. Owen rubbed his cold hands on Noah's face. "Heyyyy buddy. Howya doin'?" Owen slurred his speech. Noah lead Owen to his seat next to Emma and sat him down. "Youuu know, I, _hic_ , looked everywhere for you, _hic_ , buddy." He began to hiccup. "I brought Kitty back to her room and _hic_ Emma was not there. I thought you might, _hic_ , be in our room, you know, _hic_ , having sex,but you weren't there either."

"Sorry Owen. I should have left a note or something," Noah said.

"You were not kidding about him taking off his shirt," Emma observed.

"Emma!" Owen yelled out, as if only then realizing that Emma was there. "You're so cool. And, _hic_ , pretty, and _, hic_ , clothed, because I thought I was going to walk in on you _, hic_ , naked _, hic,_ having sex with Noah."

"We get it Owen," Noah interjected.

Owen slid down in his chair, unable to sit up. His head fell to one side, when he spotted the beer on the table next to him. "Hey! Beer!" He reached his hand over to grab it, but Noah pulled his arm back.

"No. No more drinking for you," Noah informed him. "You need water." He motioned for Emma to grab some from the bar. She nodded knowingly and headed to grab some. "How much did you drink Owen?"

"Well, the teenagers, I wanted to impress the teenagers. So, I drank a lot, like, a lot." His hiccups seemed to pass for the moment. "And I was so cool. It's been so long since the Tank was unleashed Noah. I killed it. I did."

"Glad you had fun, buddy," Noah said assuringly. Emma returned from the bar with a pitcher of water and a glass. Owen reached out, grabbed the pitcher from her hands, and chugged the entire thing. Emma watched in amazement, unsure about what to do with the glass now.

"Okay," Noah thought out loud, "I think we should bring you back to the room."

"What?" Owen asked, incredulous. "The party's barely begun. I want to dance!"

He stood up from his seat, wobbled for a second, and then toppled over face first onto the ground.

 _Afterword:_

 _We hope you liked this chapter, sorry for the delay in posting it. We struggled a bit with one part of it._

 _Please leave a review._

 _Till Next Time –Nyhlus and BJ_


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